Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Considering this is about flood relief, I acknowledge that I met the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, in Midleton at the entrance to Tir Cluain estate and Moore's Bridge on the Sunday. I want to give a synopsis of why we are here tonight. These are the words of one of the volunteers in the hub in Midleton, County Cork:

The events of Wednesday 18 October 2023 will forever be engrained in the memory of everyone in east Cork .... Within hours of opening our doors the true devastation became obvious and we walked around Midleton. People were crying out for cleaning supplies. Bleach and disinfectant, mops, brushes and buckets [were] the most sought after goods so that is where we started. Within 24 hours the Midleton Hub had morphed into a humanitarian crisis hub. Amazing volunteers, companies [and] organizations all eagerly got on board to support the people of east Cork. In-house, our team at the Midleton Hub, all of whom are volunteers - we have no paid members of staff - who had a week earlier been unaware of the skills needed to manage a project of this magnitude hit the ground running by using their own personal experience and common sense to get the job done. The most frustrating aspect of what we were co-ordinating was the fact that there was no supports in place from any authority, body or government. Many people were expecting a 'plan' to be in place and 'someone' to be in charge but as the hours and days passed it became evident that this was not the case, there was no one coming and it was down to the Midleton Hub and the amazing community of east Cork - Midleton, Castlemartyr, Mogeely, Killeagh and Whitegate. There was no one coming to 'save' us. It was up to east Cork. Humanity, empathy and common sense - that is what has prevailed.

The questions put to me were as follows:

Where is the contingency? Who is the point of contact? Where is the emergency plan for when the next disaster hits east Cork, not just Midleton but Castlemartyr, Mogeely and all the areas throughout east Cork devastated by the recent events?

I have been contacted by a community nurse who was trying to secure a bed for an elderly lady in need after her own bed was destroyed by flooding. This elderly couple already existed in the "system", so why is a community nurse forced to seek supports elsewhere from a crisis volunteer group?

I have been tasked with having to make a decision about who is most in need. The names of five families appeared before me on a list. It fell on my shoulders to determine who I should give the fridge, the cooker, [and] the dehumidifier to. I had to choose between a family of two adults and five children, one child with severe autism; a family who literally had the clothes on their back and a one-year old child; or an elderly couple both in their late 60s with no family support; an elderly couple, one bed-bound, with no English; a family of three - two elderly parents and a son in his 30s with physical and mental health issues who was traumatised by the recent events. Why was that left to the Midleton Hub?

They are the words of one of the volunteers. I commend everybody who rallied around. I had a recent meeting with the municipal district officer as well. Only for these volunteers very little would have been co-ordinated. The Minister of State complimented the emergency services that were there and the county council and I have to commend the two social welfare officers who were out on the Saturday and Sunday knocking on doors trying to assist people. However, when I had this meeting I asked the district officer who is the co-ordinator where I go if this happens again. Where is the follow-up? We had met briefly on the Sunday above in the estate in Tír Cluain. There is also an issue with Moore's Bridge, which is on a private road, but again the system seems to be reactive instead of proactive. Cork County Council was very fast to issue a letter to the residents there saying: "That is not our problem. That is your baby. Get it out of the river because that is causing an obstruction." To my mind, in a time of emergency you have an emergency response. That should be pulled out and the debate had afterwards to assist with what they could do with that bridge. There are a couple of other issues and I will come back to them after the Minister of State replies. I want him to paint a picture of what is going to happen next.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Buckley for raising this important matter. I did meet him in Midleton that Sunday. It was very distressing for the people whose homes and businesses were affected following the devastation caused by the flooding.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is designated as the lead Department for co-ordinating the response at national level to seven scenarios, including 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, which 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 document Strategic Emergency Management - National Framework. This includes facilitating collective decision-making and ensuring aligned public safety messaging among a broad range of Departments, organisations and groups that have a role to play in any of the given seven emergency types under its remit.

With reference to the weather systems we have experienced in recent weeks, Storm Babet was an intense, slow-moving rainfall weather front originating in the Bay of Biscay. The timing of Storm Babet's arrival combined with complex coastal, pluvial and fluvial conditions resulted in significant flooding, especially for the south and east of the country. It impacted many parts of the south and south east of Ireland with severe flooding in Midleton, which I myself saw at first hand.

Following a short reprieve, Storm Ciarán was named and tracked towards Ireland and on 12 November, Met Éireann named Storm Debi, which was forecast to make landfall in Ireland on Monday 13 November, tracking from the south west to the north east. This system developed rapidly off Ireland's south-west coast. Storm Debi was characterised as an extremely fast-forming and complex system with the potential for dangerous wind speeds and rainfall.

During these weather events, there was extensive flooding throughout east Cork, along with other parts of the country. In Midleton, the Owenacurra river rose at an unprecedented rate and broke its banks at two locations causing flood damage to the town with more than 100 properties flooded. At its peak, Midleton Main Street saw floodwaters of approximately 1 m depth. The script is wrong. It should read Sunday, 12 and Monday, 13 October. I apologise for that.

It should be noted that significant resources were deployed in response to the flooding across the country involving local authority staff, firefighters, Civil Defence volunteers, members of An Garda Síochána, Defence Force personnel and the Irish Coast Guard with appropriate response vehicles and equipment. I take this opportunity to thank all of those who worked in dangerous and challenging conditions to assist home and business owners, rescue those who were trapped by the extreme floodwaters and those who are now involved in the clean-up and restoration phase post incident. It is across the spectrum. The usual stakeholders were involved: the Civil Defence, the local authority, the fire brigade, the HSE and volunteers. What I saw in Midleton was exemplary and there was extensive community action as well.

When there is an unprecedented weather event, such as the flooding we witnessed, all available resources are deployed to assist the impacted communities during all phases of the event. This can be hugely resource intensive, both in terms of crews on the ground, be they fire or other services.

My colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is acutely aware of the extreme hardship this has caused in many parts of the country as a result of recent flooding, and the constraints on local government at this time. With this in mind, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has sought Exchequer funding specifically to assist impacted local authorities with exceptional expenditure directly associated with the recent flood response.

A circular has issued to every chief executive in the country, inviting them to make an application with relevant details of the exceptional costs and current expenditure incurred by the local authority in respect of flood response activities. Eligible costs are envisaged to include a variety of areas. A business case may be made for any other costs considered exceptional. As always, the Department will continue to work with local authorities in this regard.

While my Department's focus is on the local authority and its response, officials from the Department also liaised with both the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to request them to activate both of their humanitarian schemes.

The Department of Social Protection's humanitarian flood response scheme supports households affected by the flooding. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment supports small businesses, sports clubs and community and voluntary organisations unable to secure flood insurance and affected by the flooding. Both of these schemes were activated in response to events in Midleton and east Cork and other relevant locations.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The Civil Defence, the Garda, local councils and everybody else were amazing. It must be acknowledged that the emergency payments to households and businesses have been very well received. It is still a crap show down there at the moment. I will be lucky to have my office open for Christmas but it is only an office and people's homes, businesses and lives have been deeply affected. I think there is a public meeting next Tuesday. People want to know what the plan is going forward. We cannot predict everything. There is no certainty, but is there going to be a plan? We hope the so-called new flood warning system is to be rolled out in the near future. Will there be a system? The Minister of State heard what I relayed in my opening statement from one of the witnesses. We do not have anywhere to go. Even as a public representative, when I met with the municipal district officer last week and asked him who I turn to and who is going to be the co-ordinator if this hits again I was told that there is nobody. Is it possible to support local and county councils to come up with a contingency plan, even a basic emergency number if an event like this happens again in the near future? I hope it never does, but at least we as public representatives and those who work for the council and county council will have an avenue to follow if the crap hits again. We need to get a plan in place because on the Sunday I had to ring two different Garda stations to get through to an area engineer to try to get sandbags released from Collins Barracks because the demand was so high. Unfortunately, that could not be done. We had volunteers and companies that donated all of this, which was fabulous, but we need a contingency plan for the future. How could we push this forward?

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Buckley for the opportunity to discuss this issue. All public representatives, including him, are dealing with this on the ground. When an emergency like that arises, the Department and the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management co-ordinates the immediate response, which is an emergency response.

The Department of Social Protection is providing funding to households, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is providing funding to businesses. Those systems are up and running. Furthermore, the local authorities themselves will make proposals on interim measures and work in conjunction with the OPW.

On the question the Deputy is posing, there is a system in place to deal with emergencies like that in Midleton. What occurred happened in such a dramatic fashion and services kicked in. It was a very difficult time, particularly for the businesses and the residents. However, there are structures in place. If the Deputy has thoughts on what he feels would be an enhancement, I suggest he make them known to my Department. It is obviously under the remit of the OPW, but more particularly local authorities, whose staff are on the ground. One is always seeking to enhance but there are structures to deal with the emergency response, involving all the stakeholders. It is a very traumatic time for the people of Midleton, particularly coming up to Christmas. When I was there, the people's resolve was unquestionable. I pay tribute to the people themselves and the providers of the services that kicked in. I was in the town for a day and the people were amazing.