Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Question 5: To ask the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government if he will provide funds to local authorities to update water infrastructure to deal with persistent flooding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37694/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Measures to alleviate flooding are generally the responsibility of the Office of Public Works, which is the lead agency for flood risk management and funds a capital and maintenance programme for major and minor flood relief schemes in known areas at risk.

The Department's multi-annual water services investment programme funds the provision of water services infrastructure to address specific environmental, public health and economic needs. While the programme includes the upgrade and expansion of sewerage networks, storm water drainage is only funded where it is the most economic means of providing increased foul drainage capacity in combined sewer systems, enabling storm water to be diverted from the combined system. It is to this limited extent only that sewerage schemes provide flood relief measures. No funding is available from the water services investment programme for specific separate storm water drainage, flood prevention or relief works. It is possible in some instances to combine the procurement and delivery of works being funded for such purposes by the OPW with schemes being advanced by local authorities under the water services investment programme. I am sure the Deputy is aware of some of these cases.

The Department, in partnership with the OPW, published guidelines for planning authorities on the planning system and flood risk management in November 2009, with the aim of ensuring a more consistent, rigorous and systematic approach to flood risk identification, assessment and management within the planning system. These statutory guidelines provide the basis for planning authorities to identify, assess and take appropriate steps to manage flood risk in a sustainable manner.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That sounds a bit like gobbledegook to me.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I am surprised someone as intelligent as the Deputy cannot understand it.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister speaks about this body and the other body being responsible, this report and so on. On 24 October, there was serious flooding in 89 different locations in my area alone. Hundreds of families saw their houses flooded. For many of those families, it was a repeat episode of flooding. It happened again, again and again. The thrust of my question and the appeal of the residents in Blackrock, Monkstown, Stradbrook, Sallynoggin, Dalkey, Ballybrack and Dún Laoghaire - I am sure this is repeated all over the city - is that the State takes responsibility.

How the Minister brings different Departments and the OPW together to sort this out is really up to the Government. That is what the Government is there for, but it is clear that this is not just a natural disaster problem, but essentially the consequence of developers being allowed to run amok over the years, putting up developments willy nilly all over the place and not putting adequate water and drainage infrastructure in place. Local authorities previously identified flood works that they knew had to be put in place, but they failed to do so over years and failed to require developers to put in proper water and drainage infrastructure. This meant a disaster for people on 24 October, which was not the first time for many of them. They cannot get insurance any longer and they quake in their boots every time the rain comes down.

Money should be made available to carry out the water and drainage infrastructure work in flood black spots as a matter of urgency. An insurance scheme should be put in place by the Government, so that people who cannot get insurance because they are repeat flood victims will be able to do so, and local authorities should be given the resources to do simple things like regularly clean out gullies, especially in flood black spots.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I know that Deputy Boyd Barrett expects the State to do everything and to provide resources to everybody and anybody, including the local authorities that are responsible in the first instance for making sure that the gullies are clean. He should direct his question to the local authorities and ask what they are doing with their maintenance budgets to introduce preventative measures so we do not experience the level of flooding to which he refers.

The Office of Public Works is in charge of providing the necessary remedial action for flooding. It has a rolling fund of €45 million for 2012. If the Deputy's local authority wishes to have matters prioritised, I am sure it is in a position to contact the OPW and request that certain areas be prioritised.

I sympathise with those people who suffered from the floods in October. Unfortunately, there was a huge amount of rainfall in just three hours. It was definitely unexpected at that stage that so much water would fall in such a short space of time. However, we have allocated €10 million to help people in these stressful situations to deal with their properties and their belongings and to mitigate the hardship in some way. Various voluntary organisations, local authorities and the Red Cross are dealing with those issues. Community welfare officers from the Department of Social Protection and the local authorities are helping people to mitigate the damage. However, we should never expect the State to do everything for everybody.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Of course the State has responsibility to put in place proper water and drainage infrastructure. I do not understand the Minister batting this off to the local authorities, as if he was disconnected from local authorities.

Deputy Hogan is the Minister with overall responsibility for this.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are over time so, if you do not mind, please put the question.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will the Minister make funds available to the local authorities to take urgent action to improve the infrastructure in flood black spots? I realise this is not directly the responsibility of the Minister's Department but perhaps he could raise this issue. For example, many people in Avondale Lawn in Blackrock are repeat flood victims. The backs of their homes look like disaster areas or like a Hollywood disaster movie. They have been informed that because of means testing they do not qualify for assistance under the €10 million scheme. What help will be provided for them?

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Those people have insurance.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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They do not because they are repeat flood victims.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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If they do not have insurance then they are entitled to apply for the scheme and if Deputy Boyd Barrett has details of these matters and where they have been refused I will have them investigated.

The local authorities are devolved from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and are responsible within their budgets for the works which Deputy Boyd Barrett has outlined. The Deputy should make representations to his local authority and he should prioritise the areas that should be cleaned up. No Department should be responsible for an agency or local authority that has devolved function with regard to these matters or should hand-hold such agencies in respect of anything and everything. These people must exercise responsibility while they have budgets to do so.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is a matter of resources.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Naturally, it is about resources; let us remember we are in an EU-IMF programme.