Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The fact is that we had absolutely devastating rains in north County Louth and Dundalk. As bad as they were, they could have been worse, which was the fear of everybody. When I submitted this issue for debate, I was not sure what Ministry to include because I have questions for the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform on the OPW and flood defences and questions for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on local government and its operations, and also on the entire issue of drainage schemes, a very particular issue that I will deal with in respect of Dundalk. Obviously, the Department of Transport has responsibility in that a large number of roads and bridges have been destroyed. Carlingford and parts of the Cooley Peninsula have been absolutely devastated. People are going through the rack and ruin of what are their homes and businesses.

I commend the community for all the work it did, even the mitigation work in parts of Dundalk, particularly the part I am from. In fairness, I have to commend the considerable work done by members of the fire service, members of the county council and many others, but there are questions about how we respond to issues like this. There are huge gaps.

We welcome the humanitarian assistance scheme and the emergency business flood relief scheme. We need to ensure there are flexibilities because, as I met people, particularly with Councillor Antóin Watters, I found more anomalies and more questions. In fairness, we have a fair bit of information flowing freely back to us but we just need to ensure we are looking after people.

There is a request for a scheme for farmers whose lands have been damaged and whose feedstock has been destroyed. I raised this with the Taoiseach and also the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue. We do need some sort of relief scheme delivered. As I said before, there are still people who cannot get to their homes because roads and bridges have been destroyed. As quickly as possible, the repair work has to get under way.

Let me refer now to the big piece of work. It was brought up by several councillors, particularly Councillors Antóin Watters, Edel Corrigan and Kevin Meenan. Councillors from every party across the Dundalk municipal area and north County Louth brought up all these issues at a meeting yesterday. The OPW is to be met by the council concerning flood defences and anything else that needs to be done. While people are talking about the need for works to repair their houses and businesses, they are also saying they need mitigations dealt with. There are question marks over actions that were carried out around drainage and legacy issues. Huge parts of the estate where I live in Dundalk were under water. While some people unfortunately got flooded, there was a fair amount work done to hold back the tide, for want of a better term. However, in real terms the only thing that saved us was the fact that the Tuesday night rains were not as significant as they could have been and storm Ciarán passed us by. Cluan Enda, Bay Estate, Greenwood Drive, Avondale Park, Meadow View and all the areas off Avenue Road and between Red Barns Road and St. Alphonsus Road in Dundalk flood regularly during normal times. What that tells me is that there is an issue concerning the combined system that deals with storm water and sewage. We have a pump station that Irish Water is responsible for but that is run by EPS Water, a subcontracted company. We need to have a major assessment of north County Louth and what can be done by way of mitigation, but we really need to consider that Dundalk cannot deal with these issues regularly, which means that times like these represent an absolute disaster. We are very close to one.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of the recent flooding in north Louth and Dundalk. It is of both local and national importance. I appreciate and fully share the Deputy’s concern for the communities and businesses affected by last week’s flooding event.

I am answering this question on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, but his Department has no function in regard to flood relief infrastructure. I have been informed by my colleagues in the OPW that following the flooding experienced in Louth last week as a result of heavy rainfall, the OPW and Louth County Council are working to progress flood relief schemes to protect at-risk properties in north Louth and the Cooley Peninsula from such events in the future. The OPW has primary responsibility for flood relief schemes. I understand that assistance is being provided to those affected by the flooding through the humanitarian assistance scheme administered by the Department of Social Protection and the emergency business flooding schemes for small businesses, sports clubs and community and voluntary organisations administered by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

On associated wastewater and storm water infrastructure, the Deputy will appreciate that, since 1 January 2014, Uisce Éireann has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, including the planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. The prioritisation and progression of individual projects are matters for determination by Uisce Éireann. Uisce Éireann is held to account in this role by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, as the environmental regulator. The EPA recently released its urban wastewater treatment report for 2022 and this highlights that, while many challenges lie ahead, Uisce Éireann is making progress and improving compliance. The draft river basin management plan reports the number of water bodies showing that the actual impact from wastewater has now decreased.

Uisce Éireann has informed me that investment is continuing in wastewater infrastructure in north Louth and Dundalk to support future growth and development, meet current demand and support the protection of the local environment, with upgrade works ongoing on wastewater treatment in Drogheda and the preparation of a drainage area plan for north Louth to identify drainage problems impacting the public and the environment followed by the identification of solutions to remedy these.

As part of budget 2024, the Minister secured funding of €1.6 billion to support Uisce Éireann in delivering water services. This overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services. The national development plan commits to almost €6 billion in capital investment, to be undertaken by Uisce Éireann from 2021 to 2025, and over €4.5 billion will be voted Exchequer funded in respect of domestic water services.

This sustained investment will improve capacity, performance and, in particular, the resilience of water services. Many serious challenges will remain, which will take investment. The EPA has identified the priority areas where Uisce Éireann should target its available resources to deliver improvements where they are most needed and will bring the greatest environmental benefits.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I raised this issue with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage rather than the Office of Public Works because I get that this is not the last time I will do so. What the Minister of State has told me is brilliant but we need a timeline for the drainage area plan.

To speak specifically about Dundalk, at this point we cannot get rid of storm waters following regular heavy rainfall. That tells me we have not made an allowance for new estates and we want to see even more estates built. We have also not allowed for new businesses and factories, all of which are very welcome.

My estate cannot get onto a line that goes to a pumping station, so the water literally lies in the estate. If we were to have further rain or the rains they had in the Cooley Peninsula, the estate would be destroyed. Councillor Antóin Watters and I covered a huge area. The Turf Road in Edentubber was ripped away but at least works are being planned for that. There is also Deerpark in Ravensdale and Ballymakellet. Businesses across the board in Carlingford are affected, including Ma Bakers, the Four Seasons, the Carlingford Arms and the equestrian centre. There is huge devastation. I thank the residents of Trinity Close, whose homes have been destroyed. Bridie McGeown allowed me to use her house to do an interview with RTÉ. Fiona and Brendan also fed me when I would have expected to be given short shrift. Lurgan, Piedmont, Benagh, Lordship, Rathcor, Grange and some other places are still dealing with this type of flooding. Everyone is pointing out changes with regard to drainage systems, culverts and so on. We really need to look at this.

There is an issue with Louth County Council. In 1982, there were, I think, 163 council workers, whereas now the number is around 28. A huge amount of work has been done but we need to have a central hub. At times we need to pull in other State agencies. People have asked if we need the Defence Forces. As I have said, we got lucky this time but we could be waiting for doomsday because all it would have taken was one more night of rain.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy rightly identifies, the OPW is not the only agency or organ of State responsible for dealing with flooding. It does flood prevention works but Uisce Éireann is involved in making sure there is sufficient drainage, in particular for new housing, as the Deputy pointed out. We have a massive housing programme, so we needed a lot of investment in Uisce Éireann. That is why it was given €1.6 billion this year for investment purposes. When all else fails, there are compensation payments for businesses and individuals. However, it is well recognised with flooding that it costs a lot less to do the preventative work than it does to compensate people after the fact. For this reason, it is important that we continue to invest at that level. With a growing population and a massive increase in our housing programme, we need a commensurate increase in the amount of investment in our water drainage facilities. The programme for Government commits to funding Uisce Éireann's capital investment plan for drinking water and wastewater on a multi-annual basis instead of year by year for this reason. The delivery of the funding project has been committed to in Project Ireland 2040. The national development plan commits to almost €6 billion of capital investment to be undertaken by Uisce Éireann until 2025.

Uisce Éireann has established a dedicated team to deal with representations and queries from public representatives. The team can be contacted via email atoireachtasmembers@water.ieor by telephone on a dedicated number at 1890 578 578. Uisce Éireann will share with the Deputy its plans for investment in wastewater treatment in north County Louth and Dundalk. If he is not happy with what he hears or has other suggestions, he should contact either my office or that of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We will do that. We need an assessment alongside the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, and everything else.