Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)

I express my sincere sympathy with the victims of flooding throughout the country. It is a horrible thing to happen to anyone. It happened to me once and it is a terrible domestic experience. While this is happening throughout the country, there are certain blackspots. The Cavan-Monaghan constituency is not immune from the problem as there are pockets of flooding. Individuals have been badly affected. This week, one local newspaper carried a front page photograph of a gentleman whose house was submerged in water. Other people's cars were submerged on roads. Much farmland, which was sodden already, is under water. While we are not in the same awful position as other counties, the Minister of State should note that the Cavan-Monaghan area has suffered localised effects. Although the numbers are small, the people affected in Cavan-Monaghan will require the same kind of relief package as those in the blackspots. The impact is as great for them as for those affected by flooding elsewhere. I ask the Minister of State to consider that matter seriously.

We will have to put more money into a drainage programme because the old river drainage schemes carried out by county councils and the OPW have been left aside in recent years. It will not halt the rain but it will have an impact on the solution. It was clearly a mistake to build houses on flood plains. In addition, we put too many houses in hollows and valleys to avoid affecting the skyline, so that should be examined.

I want to put on record the degree to which the Cavan-Monaghan area has been affected. Farmers have been hit and road surfaces have been damaged, which has implications for the roads programme. In addition, individual householders have been flooded in pockets. They should get the same relief as those in other flooded areas.