Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I praise the men on the ground in Galway, as well as some women who were there, who reacted to the flooding that happened. I will come to the flooding itself, the council's response and, more importantly, the response from the Department. My purpose in raising this is that we can learn, we can prevent future incidents and we can clarify precisely what resources are available to help Galway city and indeed the county. I have shocking pictures of the damage done in Leenane in County Galway. I praise the council employees on the ground. Rinne siad obair na gcapall ar an oíche. I also praise the Civil Defence. I pick these out in particular because I will be very critical of how the management handled the flood on the night. The fire brigade had to cope with a person going into the water at 7 p.m. It saved that person. Many things happened with which the people on the ground to deal. The workers had to cope with extraordinary difficulties. I was there at 6 p.m., went home at 2 a.m. and came back again in the morning. I also praise the work that happened the next day. It was brilliant. People went door to door and did everything right.

On the night in question, I could not find who was in charge on the ground for a long time. I have an office which flooded, although that is immaterial. Many businesses and houses were destroyed. I could not find out who was in charge. Traffic continued to go through the floods on Fr. Griffin Road, down the docks and so on. Nobody took charge on the night in the immediate aftermath. I saw a report from the council that was eventually produced for the council meeting six days later and which was given seven hours into the meeting. It outlines a number of things which I will not go into in detail. The final paragraph of the report really concerns me, and I draw the Minister of State's attention to it. It is called learning and recommendations. It stated that a full inter-agency review of recent weather events should be carried out. I would have thought that would have been carried out already. There is discussion about the storms, Ophelia, Brian and Eleanor and how a review should be carried out, and not only that it should be carried out, but how agencies are giving themselves three more months to carry it out. The report states that agencies should develop an emergency response plan for the management of future flood events. I would have thought that was in place. It is a recommendation of this report to take actions such as the issuing of sandbags, temporary defences, traffic management and notification to the media. The recommendation corroborates my experience on the night that nobody was in charge. It certainly happened after the event. My criticism is of the senior management of the council and the gardaí. The traffic going through the flooded streets added to the chaos and increased the damage.

Further, the actions taken as a result of pressure in Salthill over the last years saved that area to some extent, whereas in the city, the car park in Jury's Inn was under flood water, as were Flood Street and other streets. There was a very high tide but anybody could see that there was a high tide at 5 p.m. The wind blew up but there was a warning. It is extraordinary. The report of the meeting is a blaming game, not by me but by the city manager, blaming the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. He said that the Department issued a warning but did not tell Galway. That was the response and the city council was omitted from that. Will the Minister of State clarify the Department's reaction with regard to resources being provided for those who have suffered in Galway and the county? What report does the Minister of State have? What is the extent of the damage?

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the issue. It was actually raised with the OPW so I am taking the debate on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, because he could not make it on short notice. It affects my Department as well. If I had known on time, I could maybe have brought more information to the Deputy to discuss this but I can certainly add to this conversation directly at a later stage if the Deputy wants. We want to learn from all these events, with a mission to prevent them in the future and to deal with them and every possible scenario. The National Emergency Coordination Centre reviews exactly what happened at a local level and national level and tries to learn from that. We have proven over the years, certainly with Storm Ophelia, that we can address and handle these issues. If there were any failings in the Galway situation, we will learn from and address that.

On behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, the Government's behalf and my own, I express my sympathy to the people in Galway who had their houses and businesses flooded recently. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is the lead Department with responsibility for co-ordinating the national emergency response for severe weather events such as storms Ophelia and Eleanor. It has a co-ordinating role across various Departments and agencies when there is a national emergency. In early January, the severe weather assessment team in my Department was actively monitoring forecasts and warning updates from both Met Éireann and the OPW regarding severe weather and tidal conditions.

They linked with the local authorities most likely to be affected regarding their preparedness and the support available at national level, if required. My Department also liaised with relevant agencies in disseminating public safety information messages through broadcast and various social media. Social media and traditional media played a major role in helping us to get the message out with yellow, orange or red warnings relating to Storm Ophelia. I thank them for their support. Like the Deputy, I also thank all the people involved in the response on the ground in the clean-up afterwards and in helping others as well. The process of getting information out is essential as well. We do not always agree with the media in this House but when it comes to weather events, they provide an essential service and I compliment them.

Affected local authorities, including GCC, activated their interagency local co-ordination groups and internal crisis management teams to consider the forecasts and updates regarding Storm Eleanor and the potential threats, including high tides. Every local authority has a local co-ordination group and they meet during these events. The Galway group met twice that night to deal with the outcome and the aftermath. Even with all the warnings and predictions that had been made, the water levels were more than 1 m higher than anyone could have predicted. A sudden change in wind direction and an increase in wind speed of 42 knots between 5 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. combined with the high tide, heavy rainfall the storm surge caused the severe flooding. There was also a full moon leading to high tides. That is why the OPW and Met Éireann were issuing warnings and potential flooding was forecast a few days in advance. GCC crews with assistance from the Defence Forces worked through the night and provided assistance to those affected by flooding, including the provision of pumps, collection of flood damaged contents and provision of dehumidifiers. Staff from other agencies and local residents came together to work hard as well. Everyone chips in to do what they can when these events happen. It is accepted generally that everybody did their job correctly to deal with the flooding aftermath. The Deputy's concern is that it happened in the first place. With all the predictions in the world, we cannot always predict where flooding will hit. Warnings are given but, again, we will review what happened and we will learn from this. A proposal to deal with this was brought to Government after the event on 2 January. The national co-ordinating committee will review the response as well.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I reluctantly say that the Minister of State's response is disappointing. I realise he is stepping in on behalf of the Minister but I asked a specific set of questions. What resources will be made available? What is the extent of the damage that has been communicated to the his Department? We need answers to them. Perhaps the full moon on the night explains some of the bewilderment on the part of senior management. There was fault in respect of the reaction. No meeting was convened urgently because they did not believe anything would happen. In the report of the meeting, the manager blamed the Department for the lack of warning. Staff could not have reacted because they say that they did not know. I live in the Claddagh in Galway and we are surrounded by water. Anybody could see that the water was extraordinarily high. The water was monitored up to 4.10 p.m., which was the last time the level was recorded. I have a file on Leenane but I do not have the time to outline the damage to hotels, private houses, the craft shop and the sea wall. I pay tribute to the OPW whose engineers have inspected the damage. What resources will be provided and when will they be provided?

There is an AquaDam in the Spanish Arch in Galway but it was not fully inflated on the night. Questions have to be asked about the cost of that and the Minister of State should check it. The AquaDam is punctured. It is like a bicycle tube that has been mended using a repair kit. It has been bandaged numerous times. These are serious questions. It cannot be inflated to its full height because of all the problems with it. I do not wish to find fault but, since I live in Galway, I want to know practically how we can avoid this again. There is a responsibility on us locally to a certain extent but the major responsibility lies with the local authority and the Government. What will happen in this flood risk area, particularly for businesses? My office, for example, is next door to a dentist's surgery and her livelihood has been put in jeopardy. There is a carpet shop nearby and there are many dentists with seriously expensive equipment located on the docks. They have no insurance.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I have no problem getting more information on this for the Deputy and sitting down with her at a later date. She has raised questions that I will put to GCC as well. The national co-ordinating group assesses the fallout from all these events and makes changes accordingly. However, warnings are given on a regular basis and the OPW, Met Éireann and the Department are involved in that. They are issued through the media and every local authority knows what it has to do when it is notified.

The Deputy mentioned the full moon in a comical way but I will not because the moon affects tides. High tides, high winds and the sea surge at the same time caused this flooding. It could not have been predicted precisely but we have mechanisms in place to react. The Deputy raised issues about this and I will have them checked out as well. There are various schemes in place for the clean-up following such an event. The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection ensured her Department's scheme was up and running straightaway. This will provide assistance to households affected by Storm Eleanor. A number of households have been assisted. There are different stages to the scheme relating to initial damage and structural damage to the house. The Irish Red Cross is administering a humanitarian flooding scheme on behalf of the Government to assist small businesses. Its aim is to get businesses back up and running but it does not deal with loss of goodwill and earnings. That scheme is available to businesses in the Galway region as well.

Local authorities are told by the Department that there is no restriction on cost in dealing with the fallout from a disaster such as this. They react accordingly in the days after during the clean-up and in addressing prevention measures for the future. Capital works that will have to be carried out in Galway fall to the OPW. I have a list of allocations under various schemes but I do not have time to outline them.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I take it the Minister of State will meet the Deputy.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to meet her to discuss this.