Feargal Quinn (Independent)

It has been interesting to listen to the Minister of State to learn of the visits he made and the sympathy he has shown. That sympathy comes from all of us for those who have lost their homes, businesses, farms and, in many cases, source of income. As other speakers have pointed out, it has brought out the best in people, the good Samaritans who helped those who they did not even know.

That brings us to the blame game. We blame everything but ourselves - the weather, greenhouse gases, everything. However, we only have ourselves to blame. When I say this, I do not mean us; I mean the Government and those who have been running the country for the last 70 years.

Senator O'Toole wished to speak on this topic which he follows closely but he has a family commitment and asked me to take his place. He has provided me with significant information from his experience. I found it particularly interesting that he introduced a Bill on the Shannon twice during the 1990s. He first introduced it when we had a Fine Gael led Government and he had the support of Fianna Fáil for it at the time. However, it did not get through. A few years later, in 1998, he reintroduced the same Bill. This time Fianna Fáil was in power and he had the support of Fine Gael, but once again the Bill did not get through.

The Bill, entitled the Shannon River Council Bill, is a very interesting read and encompasses a great deal. It was a Bill to co-ordinate the activities of authorities, agencies and bodies connected with the protection, conservation, management, water management and control of pollution of the Shannon River catchment, to establish a body to be known as the Shannon River Council and to define its functions and so on. The functions of the council would be to propose policies and priorities for the enhancement of the water quality of the Shannon River and its catchment basin and for the protection and enhancement of the environment and natural habitats of bird and fish life in that region. Unfortunately, the Bill did not get support.

Senator O'Toole also gave me a copy of the Doherty report from the year 2000 which refers to both the 1956 Rydell and the 1961 OPW/ESB reports. Mr. L. E. Rydell of the US Army Corps of Engineers visited the Shannon area over a 30-day period in June to July 1955, following the major floods on the river over the winter of 1954-55. A preliminary report was submitted by him in August 1955 and a final report was completed by him in August 1956. I would like to touch on one or two points he made in his report. I accept the comment made earlier that we probably do not need any more reports; we have ample reports. Rydell advanced several possible options for alleviation of the Shannon flooding and recommended that more detailed preliminary investigations should be carried out on the more promising remedial approaches. These possibilities included connecting Lough Gara to the Owenmore River by a proposed canal to divert surplus flood water from the Shannon catchment and exploring the possible improved utilisation of the storage capacities of Lough Allen, Lough Ree and Lough Derg to achieve better control of flooding. These are only two out of eleven proposals that make fascinating reading.

The Rydell report should have received the attention it deserved, but it did not. Later, we had the report of the OPW/ESB which did not get the attention it deserved either. We now have the 2000 report which is well worth reading and investigating to see what we can do about the situation. There has been enough talk and we have had enough investigations. Now we need action. We have not had any action because we put things on the long finger on a regular basis.

With regard to the current problems, estimates suggest the final Bill for the damage across the country could be approximately €1 billion. It was interesting to hear Senator Hanafin talk about this. If the damage is that high, it is likely we may be able to claim €50 million from the EU solidarity fund. That is a small consolation for many, given the massive damage done throughout the country. It is amazing to consider that globally floods now affect the personal and economic fortunes of more than 60 million people every year. The flooding of the Yangtze River in China in 1998 cause €30 billion of damage.

I welcome the new planning rules announced by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley, which will ensure stricter conditions on developers who plan to build on flood plains. An example of such a development is the shopping centre in Bandon mentioned by Senator Hanafin which experienced severe flooding and was built in an area known by locals as "the swamp". It appears councils and planners have been very much involved in approving developments that should not have been built. Those of us who watched the programme on flooding on Monday night saw there were some blatant breaches of the rules. I hope the Minister's plans will be effective in tackling any future misplanning or ensuing disasters.

I am cautious when I hear people suggest drastic action such as pulling buildings down because they were situated in flood plains. We must show restraint when analysing what has happened instead of having knee-jerk reactions. We must keep in mind that "flood plain" does not mean the land is permanently under water. The definition differs, but it may just mean a flood is likely to recur in that area, whether every ten years or every 100 years. Should developers in Japan or San Francisco, for example, stop building because they are in an earthquake zone? Given our economic situation and our glut of housing, it is probably irrelevant to worry about future developments in the short term. However, we should always give heed to the long term.

We must look at how we analyse the threat of flooding in particular areas. Richard Tol, from The Independent, made the point when writing about the Irish floods that Met Éireann does not publish data on how much water is in the surface and ground-water systems. No agency publishes this information. Data on water levels is the joint responsibility of Met Éireann, the Office of Public Works, the Geological Survey of Ireland, the Marine Institute, the ESB and the Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the local authorities. Surely the task should be amalgamated and become the responsibility of one body.

There is a useful website with information on flooding, but not many are aware of it. This information is produced by the OPW and is entitled, www.floodmaps.ie. It is a very useful website which provides information on historic flooding in an area someone might plan to buy or develop. There is room for improvement in the information provided. If we take account of current flooding, this may allow us better plan for dealing with flooding.

One of our major problems is that land that once absorbed water is cemented over too often. When it comes to building on flood plains Ireland is not that unusual. It is estimated that over one tenth of houses in the United Kingdom are built on flood plains. It is worth bearing in mind the sentiment expressed in The Economist some months ago. An article in the magazine argued that floods are no more frequent today than they were 120 years ago, when lush forests were abundant. It went on to state that the problem was that more people now live and work on flood plains.

I am concerned that houses and farmland will become uninsurable, as suggested by Senator Hanafin. There is a story of a family who wanted to abandon its home of ten years because of the flooding and use the insurance payment of €80,000 to make a start on a new house on a safer site. However, because the money was not being put back into the house covered by the insurance company, the company argued, within its rights, it could reduce the compensation by 20% to €64,000. Will the Government continue to allow insurers get away with this sort of incident?

I remember reading years ago about how Lloyds became such a successful and well recognised insurance company. At the time of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, Lloyds, unlike other insurance companies, paid out immediately on claims. This made good business sense because it gave the company such good publicity. It may well be the Government will not have to take action on insurance, because it would make good business sense for some insurance company to take the lead and see its payments of claims as a good investment for the future. Defence against flooding must also be questioned because the experience of other countries such as Britain suggests that building flood barriers just moves the problem downstream to other areas. I can understand how this happens. These are difficult questions with neither easy nor obvious answers. We spoke about the human aspect and I was struck by the message from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul which has set up eight warehouses to distribute beds, linen and other household goods for those flood victims. They are extremely busy and will not have finished dealing with people affected by the flooding until next Easter at the earliest. This gives some idea of the massive devastation caused by the flooding. I urge the Government and the European Union to look with sympathy on those who are most in need.

The Joint Committee on European Affairs is meeting today with the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Commissioner, Mr. Samecki. I hope this meeting will be fruitful and go some way towards helping people who have been affected by the flooding to return to normality. Much work has been done in this area in the past. I remember well the floods of 8 December 1954 in Dublin. I was travelling in a bus to university when the Tolka overflowed. There is a view that when something happens in Dublin it gets more attention in the media and elsewhere. Speakers from the areas of the west and south which have been flooded have a much better appreciation of what has happened particularly in Athlone and Clonmel as referred to by Senator Hanafin and others. There is a danger that things will be put on the long finger again. We must ensure that on this occasion we use this experience and decide not to put it on the long finger but rather act upon it.