Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will not waste my time in describing what happened last week. Images and videos shared across social media depicted exactly what happened. I will highlight the difficulties around Glashaboy in particular, where a flood relief scheme has just commenced in my home town of Glanmire, as well as in Blackpool, where there has been a persistent hold-up in relation to the flood relief scheme.

The Glashaboy scheme in Glanmire is a 32-month contract and we are only four months into it. Many of the areas flooded along the Glashaboy river will be the last areas raised and those works will come towards the end of the scheme. I ask the Minister of State to relay to the Office of Public Works and Department that they need to analyse the scheme as it is and front-load any mitigation measures they can take in the worst affected areas, such as Copper Valley Vue estate, the new line road in Glantane and Factory Hill in Glanmire. They need to prioritise those worst affected areas. Given what we experienced last week, people cannot wait two years for the scheme to get to those areas.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Midleton town and other parts of east Cork have experienced utter devastation over the past while. I have never seen the likes of it. Hundreds of homes, businesses and roads were destroyed. The bridge in Water-rock and Moore’s bridge need to be replaced. Walls have been knocked down. In Gleann Fia, Mogeely, 30 houses were ruined. Killeagh, Youghal, Castlemartyr, Rathcormack and Midleton were affected. Estates in Midleton, including Willowbank, Tir Cluain, Beechwood, Banoge and Water-rock, were damaged, beyond repair in many instances.

I welcome the announcements today. I welcome the fact so many Ministers and the Taoiseach and Tánaiste came down so quickly but many things need to be discussed and addressed. The community spirit shown by the Garda, the Army, council workers, Civil Defence, the Coast Guard and locals was fantastic. The HSE was fantastic. This cannot happen again. That is why I call for the scheme to be expedited as much as possible. There is huge concern and worry the flooding might happen again and that cannot be allowed.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Cork is very well represented here with four Deputies in the House. I thank them for their comments. In fairness to them, they have advocated for their constituents since the flooding happened last week. I also thank them for acknowledging that we have had similar situations in Clashmore, Tallow and Kinsalebeg in west Waterford,. I visited houses last Friday. It is devastating to see the damage that has been caused.

To try to answer the questions, in regard to the Glashaboy flood relief scheme, as Deputy O'Sullivan will be aware, the scheme was confirmed in January 2021 by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Plan Delivery and Reform. The scheme, when completed, will provide flood protection to 103 properties, comprising 78 residential and 25 commercial properties. It will address the flood risk in a number of locations in the Glanmire area. The scheme will include defences such as walls and embankments, culvert upgrades, channel widening and road regrading.

In April 2023, Cork City Council, following a successful tender completion, awarded the civil works contract to Sorensen Civil Engineering. In July, it mobilised on site and carried out site investigation works, working with utility providers to agree diversions and engage with stakeholders with works commencing on site at Cuil Chluthair and Springmount. I take on board the points the Deputies made regarding front-loading work in the worst affected areas.

The construction programme is anticipated to take 32 months, with the work split into several zones to minimise disruption to the public and businesses. Following the events of Storm Babet last week, the design team will examine the proposed works through the Glashaboy flood relief scheme to consider whether any short-term or other interventions or mitigations can be beneficially proposed in addition to the approved works.

In east Cork, Cork County Council is now turning its focus to recovery and is beginning the assessment of the wider impact of the floodwaters on rural roads and infrastructure in the hinterland of Midleton and Youghal where local primary and secondary roads have been badly impacted. This will allow a clear picture to develop of the estimated cost of the appropriate works to make the worst affected sections of the road network safe.

In Midleton, the immediate focus will be to evaluate what temporary interim flood defences can be put in place as a bridging measure prior to the implementation of the planned Midleton flood relief scheme structures. The Midleton flood plan will be reviewed following the recent experience and updated to reflect the new risk areas that have been identified. Additional river and water level gauges will be installed and the council will seek to use automated water level threshold alarms to put technology to best effect.

A co-ordination centre was established at Midleton fire station to house the interagency co-ordination 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 the local hotel and temporary rest centres in Midleton, as Deputies know. Much of Midleton experienced power outages during Storm Babet and ESB crews have restored power to affected areas.

Regarding Midleton Community Hospital, as Deputies know, it was flooded and as a precaution some patients were evacuated to Heather House on St. Mary's campus in Cork city on Wednesday afternoon. The remainder of the main hospital building remained operational on backup generation power until power was restored last Wednesday. A decision was taken to decant the remainder of the hospital patients to Heather House and the National Ambulance Service co-ordinated their transfer. Thankfully, the floodwaters have receded and local authority workers have mobilised to clear debris from affected roads and premises.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the response. In a way, we in Glanmire are lucky in that the schemes have commenced. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for my colleagues in east Cork who are still waiting on the Midleton scheme. That said, as the Minister of State acknowledged in her response, her constituency was impacted. I know she will take what she has experienced over the past week back to the Ministers concerned. I again stress the urgency of the situation. Businesses and livelihoods have been lost. Family homes have been destroyed. We need to have an open debate here on insurance. Mallow was protected. Fermoy had a flood scheme that protected it, as did Douglas. Many of the houses and businesses in these areas still struggle to get insurance against flooding. That is another issue the Minister of State needs to take back to Cabinet and focus on in the time ahead.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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I again thank the Minister for her response and acknowledge the Cabinet decision today and all of the work that has been done, but there is more to be done. Hundreds of cars were destroyed beyond use on streets and in garages. One man told me that he could have lost €800,000 worth of stock. We need to start thinking about that. Midleton needs to be underwritten because, as my colleague has said, insurance is not possible due to floods. People are excluded from flood claims.

We need an early warning system because this could happen again. If there was a warning system in place, a lot of the damage could have been avoided. Why was an early warning system not in place? We need an early warning system to let people know what is coming so that they can get stuff out of the way quickly. People have been psychologically impacted by what has happened. We need counselling services in place as soon as possible. A hub in Midleton has called for that. If that could be done, it would be a great help.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the three Deputies. I join with them in thanking the emergency services and all those who stood up in the past week and helped so many businesses and families during what has been a most awful and devastating time.

As the Deputies know, today the Government announced an emergency flood relief scheme to provide aid to businesses and community, voluntary and sporting bodies directly affected by the recent weather events in counties Cork, Waterford, Limerick, Louth and Kilkenny. A second enhanced scheme will allow for higher levels of financial support due to the fact that the impact has been more severe. The scheme will provide a contribution towards the cost of returning businesses premises and community, voluntary and sporting bodies to their pre-flood condition, including the replacement of flooring, fixtures and fittings and damaged stock. The Red Cross will administer these schemes on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

The first stage of application will commence immediately and provide a contribution of up to €5,000 depending on the scale of damage incurred, with the intention to process payments as speedily as possible through the local authorities. To access enhanced payments, applicants will need to go through a more detailed assessment process, including a physical inspection, with the total level of support available at both stages capped at €20,000.

The enhanced emergency business flooding scheme will have an enhanced initial payment of €10,000 and a maximum support level of €100,000, subject to an assessment of the damages caused. A second payment of up to €100,000 will require a more detailed assessment, including physical inspection and will be subject to spot checks and possible audit at a later date.

In addition to the flooding schemes, financial assistance by way of low cost loans is immediately available from Microfinance Ireland. Small businesses can get loan financing from other lenders. Loan options include cash flow loans of up to €25,000, which can be used for general business purposes, including restocking and other business costs. Loans for capital expenditures are also available to fund the refurbishment of premises or the replacement of equipment damaged by the floods.