Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister of State will know, what happened in Leitrim village on Sunday afternoon was an absolutely freak incident that nobody could prepare for. A finger could not be pointed at anyone or any of the businesses regarding what happened. It was just one of these incidents that occasionally occur. According to Met Éireann, in certain weather conditions, small tornados can occur. This tornado ran through Leitrim village. It came up the river and tossed a whole lot of trees and took roofs off houses. It took large branches off trees and dumped them on top of a number of cars. A lady was sitting in the front seat of one of those cars. Had it been facing the other way, she would certainly have been killed. It was a very dangerous situation. The tornado cut a track of about 30 or 40 metres through the village and destroyed practically everything in its path. It also tracked along the river into the harbour area. Boats were upturned along the jetties. The tornado caused devastation everywhere it went and travelled almost a kilometre through the countryside as far as the GAA club, which was also damaged.

The issue that arises relates to the assistance that can be given to people in the circumstances. I acknowledge the visits of the Taoiseach and all the other public representatives who came to show solidarity with the community in the context of the major difficulties it faces. The Taoiseach said he was keen that assistance would be provided. However, I wanted to raise the matter here in order that we might know it is going to happen and that we can follow up on matters in that regard. There is a humanitarian assistance scheme for householders who are in difficulties as a consequence of such incidents. How can people access that and what mechanism is in place to ensure it can happen?

A number of businesses have been practically devastated as a consequence of the tornado. I refer, in particular, to the Leitrim Inn, which is a large restaurant and pub that has had a couple of difficult years as a result of Covid-19 and other issues. The Leitrim Inn is not that long in operation and now it has the damage done by the tornado on top of the other problems. All of this as Christmas approaches. A number of other businesses were also badly affected. They need to reroof their premises. There are water leaks, many windows were blown out and so on. Insurance of course will play a major role in this but we fight about insurance companies in here all the time. Apart from everything else about them, they are slow. They are slow to come out to assess, slow to provide the funding that people require and they use every excuse possible not to pay. Ministers and the Government need to put their shoulders to the wheel and assist people. The area affected by the devastation is not huge. Thank God nobody was killed or hurt. However, we need to ensure that funding is put in place to assist those affected. I also want to commend the local authority and all the emergency services, including the local fire brigade, and other services that rushed to the scene to help. The local authority has done a great deal of work to clean up the area and get everything sorted out. That costs money. The local authority is stretched for funding and will need assistance.

While we are all grateful that nobody was hurt, Carrick-on-Shannon has an ambulance station. On the morning of the tornado, as on so many other occasions, there would have been no ambulance available in Carrick-on-Shannon had somebody been seriously hurt. There was no ambulance available in Carrick-on-Shannon, Boyle, Loughglynn or anywhere else in the area. The nearest ambulance would have had to come from either Sligo town or Longford. There is an ongoing situation in south Leitrim in this regard. We have a serious problem with the ambulance service. We need investment in that service because when these incidents happen, everybody flies to the assistance of people. However, having an ambulance in place is crucial. We do not have one at the moment. That needs to be addressed.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this matter. It must have been a frightening incident for the people of Leitrim. I thank the Deputy for providing me with the opportunity to update the House of the current position.

I will begin by clarifying that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is designated as lead Department for co-ordinating the response at national level to several scenarios including severe weather and flooding. The national director for fire and emergency management within the Department is tasked with co-ordinating the response to these emergencies. The director works closely with Met Éireann, local authorities, which are the lead agencies in the context of the response to severe weather events, Departments and other agencies. This is done in light with procedures developed over the years and set out in the document Strategic Emergency Management National Structures and Framework.

In advance of Storm Elin and Storm Fergus, the national directorate for fire and emergency management crisis management team held a technical briefing on Saturday, 9 December for all local authorities to provide the most up-to-date forecast picture of both storms from the Met Éireann duty forecasters.

Storm Fergus was named by Met Éireann at 11.45 a.m. on Sunday, 10 December. An orange status wind warning was issued along the west coast for Clare, Galway, and Mayo. Status yellow wind warnings were also issued for Cavan, Dublin, Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath, with potential impacts of difficult travelling conditions and debris and loose objects being displaced.

Leitrim village, which is close to the borders of Roscommon, was struck by a tornado on Sunday, 10 December at 12.45 p.m. This was a high-impact sudden onset emergency localised to Leitrim village. Extremely high wind speeds caused structural damage to buildings, with further damage caused by flying debris affecting vehicles in the town. While four people suffered minor injuries - three were taken to hospital - thankfully no serious injuries were reported in connection with the tornado event. Prior to the tornado, intense lightning advancing on the leading edge of Storm Fergus had been affecting the west and north west.

The fire service arrived at the scene at 12.55 p.m., with appliances from Drumshanbo and Carrick-on-Shannon fire brigades present, and co-ordinated the immediate response to the incident with An Garda Síochána. The fire service incident commander at the scene described the incident as a significant emergency, with damaged premises, vehicles and dangerous conditions at a number of locations in the village. The fire service carried out a number of operations to make the scene safe, including securing buildings in advance of the further strong winds forecast due to Storm Fergus. The road into Leitrim village was closed overnight on Sunday, with local diversions put in place as local authority personnel continued to deal with the immediate clean-up and securing of the damaged premises. The housing section of the Leitrim County Council assisted affected homeowners with alternative accommodation. Emergency ESB crews continued to work through Monday to make the scene safe. I thank the responding agencies for their professional and prompt response to this event.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has secured supplementary funding from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to contribute towards local authorities' exceptional expenditure directly associated with recent severe weather events. I know the Deputy welcomes this. This funding is provided to meet the unbudgeted costs relating to cleaning up and carrying out necessary immediate works, including exceptional overtime payments, the hire of plant and heavy machinery, the purchase of materials required for the clean-up and the hire of contractors associated with significant severe weather events. This is in recognition of the exceptional nature of activities carried out by local authorities in responding to these types of emergencies and the fact that the costs of these unprogrammed activities could not be foreseen in annual expenditure planning. This practice is considered a vital enabler of the local authority action providing the assurance that availability of resources is not a limiting factor in providing a very effective local response. I will reply in respect of insurance costs and other responses in my next contribution.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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I acknowledge the work of the local authority. It is appropriate that additional funding would be given to local authorities in circumstances where they have to deal with situations like this. However, the Government needs to put in place a fund that would be there so the public can access funds as well. I have spoken to people in the area. It is all hands on deck, and people are rushing to help and clean up but they must be paid, fed and looked after while this is ongoing. In many of these situations, they will not have access to funding because they will have to wait a long time to get insurance. We all know that.

The Minister of State said the local authority will be the lead organisation. Should local businesses or the local GAA club go to the local authority for assistance? Where do they go, who is going to co-ordinate in that regard and how we do ensure that this can be delivered in a quick and efficient manner to ensure people can be looked after?

I acknowledge the work of An Garda Síochána in respect of this matter. Gardaí were on the scene. They looked after people and ensured everything was dealt with very well. That is the one thing you get from all these situations in Ireland. People come in quickly, put their shoulders to the wheel and do everything they can go help. However, it will be this week and into the following week that the real impact of this will be felt. I refer here to the financial cost. The people who work in all of these businesses will be scratching their heads wondering whether they will have work coming up to Christmas and whether they will be able to manage. We need to ensure that we put the plans in place. The Taoiseach said he is keen to see it happen, and we want to see it happen. Having ambition is not enough. We need to ensure that funding is put in place. If the Minister of State is saying that the local authority is the lead agency, we need detail about how what will be on offer can be accessed by people.

Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)
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I commend the work of the local authority. I am not at all surprised that it responded so well. In my previous dealings with Leitrim County Council regarding the bog slide at Drumkeeran, the response was phenomenal and well targeted. It was lucky that the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, addressed the first question. She has raised the issue of insurance with the relevant companies. She stated that they have engaged quickly and that any specific problems should be brought to her.

I will come back regarding what the go-to is in terms of the response. The Taoiseach visited Leitrim village and the surrounding area. I understand that welfare officers from the Department of Social Protection remain on the ground working with Leitrim County Council to provide immediate needs assistance to those affected. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is also liaising with Leitrim County Council to identify affected small businesses and other organisations that may be in need of assistance. It should also be noted that funding for the repair of public infrastructure is undertaken by the relevant Department in line with sectoral responsibility. Capital costs associated with damage to the road network and coastal protection infrastructure, where relevant, are not included as a matter of course and should be dealt with in line with the arrangements outlined.

With regard to the response of An Garda Síochána and the National Ambulance Service, the Ministers for Justice and Health will be in a position to give further and specific detail to the Deputy in this regard. The Office of the Taoiseach and officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are working actively on the ground and will liaise with Leitrim County Council in due course.

I hope this provides some assurance to the people of Leitrim village after what was a devastating event that all agencies of Government are working collaboratively to address the immediate needs and longer term needs arising out of the damage to property and other matters.