Dáil debates
Thursday, 19 October 2023
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Weather Events
6:10 pm
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for facilitating me in raising this issue. Midleton was described as a disaster zone or a swamp on media this morning, but it is not alone when it comes to this disaster. Killeagh, Whitegate, Lady's Bridge, Mogeely, Youghal, Inch and many other single dwellings dotted around east Cork have been affected by this flooding. Roads have been ripped up. In addition, more than 9,000 people in the same area are now on boil water notices. When shops in the hardest-hit areas are struggling to open, never mind stock up on essentials, how can we support those directly affected? Our local welfare offices have been decimated - Midleton recently lost its one - so where do people go when they are reaching out for help?
When communities are torn apart, the one thing that Irish communities will always do, is rally around each other and I have been witnessing this over the last few days. I thank everyone who has been involved in this massive clean-up operation, our volunteers, Civil Defence, our emergency services, the Garda, the RNLI and so on. In 2016, when all stakeholders came together following another major flooding incident, the local council and Cork County Council gave the people of Midleton every support they could have. That has been replicated once again with the support of the Government.
I have a number of questions to put to the Minister of State in order that I can go back to my constituents with solid answers. I do not expect him to be able to answer them all, but I want to put them on the record and I hope there is follow-up on them. Why was the national flood forecasting and warning service not used? Was there any prior knowledge of this disaster? Carlow Weather acknowledged the possibility of flooding and forecast 100 mm of rain in the days before this event.
What immediate emergency funding - be it be Government funding, European funding or humanitarian funding - can be drawn down as soon as possible? What happens to businesses and householders that have already drawn down the humanitarian aid funding in the past? Are they allowed to apply for it again? Do they need to have their house or business insured? Will there be a dedicated email for public representatives and Deputies? Many householders and businesses in east Cork do not have insurance because they were not afforded it after four major flooding incidents that have occurred since 2015 or January 2016.
What happens to all those vehicles that were destroyed in this flood? How can people replace them? Is there a special insurance fund that covers these events? Can the Minister of State guarantee that the Government will leave no stone unturned and will do everything to assist the people of Midleton and east Cork and that it will also remove any barriers that stand in the way of householders and businesses in order that they can get on with their lives as soon as possible?
I know there is a lot in that. I appeared in the media today and I spoke frankly about this matter. I said I am not one to go down, stand in front of the cameras, put on lovely white boots, pull a sandbag and say I have my job done. There is a job to do up here as well. I appreciate that some Ministers have today gone down to Midleton and surrounding areas.
Again, I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I am raising this because I need to go back and be in Midleton and east Cork tomorrow morning. I want to be able to assure people that they will be able to access stuff. If there is going to be an issue with previous flooding and people are not insured, what can they do? I am definitely very interested in the issue of car insurance. People had gone to work and were not parked outside their homes. These are necessities and they have lost all of them. Is there a special insurance fund in that regard? I am trying to get that information.
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Buckley. I acknowledge what his constituents are going through today. He is doing his job on behalf of his constituents here. I also spoke to Deputies O'Connor and Padraig O'Sullivan, Billy Kelleher MEP and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, about various aspects of this matter. I thank all the public representatives for the information they are getting. I will try to give as much information as I have here, but, as the Deputy has acknowledged he has placed questions on the record and it is important to get answers to every one of them.
The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is designated as lead Department for co-ordinating the response at national level to severe weather and flooding. The National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, NDFEM, within the Department is tasked with co-ordinating the response to these emergencies working closely with Met Éireann, local authorities, who are the lead agency for the response to severe weather, Departments and other agencies following the procedures developed over the years and set out in the Strategic Emergency Management - National Framework.
Storm Babet was named by the UK Met Office on Monday, 16 October. The NDFEM has been liaising with Met Éireann which is monitoring the heavy rain associated with Storm Babet that has affected the south of the country. A status orange rainfall warning was issued for Cork, Kerry and Waterford on Monday, 16 October for spells of heavy rain likely to bring localised flooding, difficult driving conditions and possible wave overtopping at high tide with an expected onset of 6 a.m. on Tuesday, 17 October until 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 18 October.
In preparation for the arrival of heavy rain, the NDFEM crisis management team issued a severe weather notice to all local authority severe weather assessment teams and principal response agencies on Tuesday, 17 October. A European Flood Awareness System flash-flood notification, issued to local authorities on Monday, 16 October, also highlighted the possibility of significant flooding in the south west. On foot of those warnings, local authorities, activated their crisis management teams, and local co-ordination groups and flood defences were put in place.
Heavy and persistent rain over southern counties on Tuesday and Wednesday combined with already saturated soils, extremely high river levels and high tides caused rivers to break their banks resulting in significant flood events particularly around east Cork, with Deputy Buckley's constituency at the centre of it. The flooding led to widespread rolling road closures that severely disrupted the road networks in County Cork, which hampered afternoon and evening commutes on Wednesday.
Cork City Council is aware of flooded properties, particularly in the areas of Blackpool and Glanmire, where council workers worked to defend properties with sandbags and pumping operations. Cork County Council is aware of the flooding of properties in Youghal, Whitegate, Rathcormac, Glandore, Ringaskiddy Carrigaline, Raffeen, Halfway and Castletownbere. In Midleton, the Owenacurra river rose at an unprecedented rate and broke its banks at two locations causing significant flood damage to the town with more than 100 properties flooded. We all saw the flood waters on television and how frightening they were at a depth of approximately 1 m.
A co-ordination centre was established at Midleton fire station to house the interagency team that co-ordinated the local response and evacuation of people trapped by the extreme floodwaters. People displaced by the floodwaters were given shelter at a local hotel and temporary rest centres in Midleton. Much of Midleton experienced power outages during the afternoon and evening on Wednesday and ESB crews worked overnight to restore power to those areas. A section to the rear of Midleton Community Hospital was flooded and some patients were evacuated to Heather House at the Mercy Hospital in Cork city. Thankfully, floodwaters have now receded and local authority workers have mobilised to clear debris from affected roads and premises.
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response. As I said, it is not a competition and I do not expect all questions to be answered. I acknowledge that the flood defence mechanisms that were put in place, such as in Mallow and Fermoy, actually worked. There should be an emphasis on that. Nobody could have predicted it affecting such a large area. In Midleton where the two rivers meet at the estuary with a high tide, one could say there was a problem there. However, given what happened in Killeagh, Youghal and Glanmire, there is a bigger picture.
On other days we could talk about flood defences, catchment flood risk assessment and management studies and stuff, but this is about making sure that we can get the information to the people who need it. We need to make it is simple as possible. We should acknowledge that the last time we were in trouble when a proper co-ordinated plan was put in place with the local stakeholders, the volunteers, the fire service, An Garda Síochána, the local authority, it worked extremely well. I thank them for that and I hope we will see such co-operation again in future. I want to reach out to everybody.
A while ago I came off the phone from talking to a teenage girl, who rang me up to tell me that she and a friend spent €40 on bottles of water and just walked around the town, handing them out. That is the community spirit we need. It is all about communication which is the most important thing here. I hope that by working together we can get this right for everybody in east Cork.
Then we can truly, genuinely start addressing where we went wrong, and it is to be hoped this will never, ever happen again.
I thank the Minister of State for his time.
6:20 pm
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the community response. People tend to look after one another in a situation such as this. Politicians work together. The public certainly want to feel that people are there responding to the immediate need. The community has done that. I know that Sarsfields GAA club in Glanmire, for example, prevented further flooding from happening.
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Yes. That was a massive gesture.
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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To be fair to Cork County Council, on foot of the warnings, work was done in anticipation of the flooding and I am sure that protected some people as well.
As regards the Department of Social Protection, community welfare officers have been on the ground in the Deputy's constituency, in Midleton and Youghal, today. I am sure he has been touch with them and with other people all day. I can only imagine-----
Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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If I can find the community welfare officers. The local one is retired.
Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The information I have is that people are on the ground. There is a humanitarian assistance scheme in place. There is a €10 million fund in place for that.
Separately, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is ready to activate the flooding support scheme for small businesses and sports clubs that are unable to secure flood insurance and are affected by the flooding. There are details in the written reply as to how those measures can be availed of. We will certainly look at sports clubs as well if there are particular issues in that regard that need to be addressed. That has happened in the past and we are certainly willing to look at that again, as I said to Deputy O'Connor and Deputy O'Sullivan today.