Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I pay tribute to him and the Department for the work they have been doing in recent weeks to assist victims of the flooding. Like Senator Boyle, I am happy that the civic emergency in Cork is over. As I have done on many occasions in the House, I again pay tribute to Civil Defence, the Army, the Garda, the fire service, the staff of city and county councils throughout the country, particularly Cork, and the many other volunteers who have helped. In particular, I pay tribute to those affected by the flooding and those who had no running water in Cork city for their patience and tolerance.

It is important, even though we are discussing a specific report, that we examine the broader picture. I am not interested in apportioning blame or finding out who made a decision to do certain things. To me, what is far more important than the release of water by the ESB, be it at Inniscarra or Ardnacrusha, or the relationship between the agencies is that we put in place a structure which in so far as is humanly possible eliminates what happened in Cork city where allegedly people were not told. Residents who came to me and whose homes I visited told me that but for their own vigilance or that of their neighbours, they would not have known about it. I visited members of the Traveller community staying in the Doughcloyne Hotel and residents of the Middle Parish and the Mardyke, every one of whom informed me that they had not been notified. This day last week University College Cork gave us a briefing in which it stated it had received a telephone call prior to midday on the Thursday from the ESB.

Residents, citizens and business owners have been asking me, as I am sure they have been asking the Minister of State, how long it will take to get their houses and businesses back; whether it will happen again and what can be done to ensure it does not; how much they will receive in compensation, and by how much their insurance premia will increase. I appreciate the Minister of State being here yesterday to take matters on the Adjournment and accept his bona fides, as I know he is genuine. However, we do not need any more reports. What we need is action. Senator Boyle spoke about political will. We need to see implementation of recommendations, whereby we put in place a blueprint and mechanism to ensure, in the case of Cork city, that the quay walls will be protected and enhanced, a flooding relief system will be in place, that residents will be notified and that the relationship between agencies will be strengthened and in a manner that will ensure communication.

The nature of the problem has been exacerbated and accelerated by global warming and climate change. To an extent, the Minister of State was correct to mention planning decisions and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley. In some cases, wrong planning decisions were made. It is too simplistic of the Minister to blame councillors. I make the point again that they do not make planning decisions; it is officials in local authorities who do so. It is the planning officer and the director of services who sign off on decisions. We need accountability in this matter. I heard the Minister state some councillors - I do not know to whom he was referring - who had made bad planning decisions had topped the polls. They were held to account. If any of us went before the people and they did not agree with us, they would vote us out. Planners who made decisions are unelected and unanswerable and the people have no recourse other than through An Bord Pleanála. This is wrong.

I fully agree with the Minister of State that we are creating concrete jungles and that we have lost natural drainage, flora and fauna. This has to stop. In stating this, I agree with Senator Quinn that, to take Cork as an example, we cannot demolish the Kingsley Hotel or County Hall. We have to put in place a mechanism. The Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill which has gone through the House and will go before the Dáil will increase population densities in local area plans. The flooding has given us a reason to amend this and reduce the density of population to 2,000. In many parts of the country it is small local communities which have been decimated and demolished. I sympathise with the people affected.

I read the Rydell report and wonder whether we could ever get the US Army Corp of Engineers back. Much of the study covering a period of 150 years was focused on events in 1956 and half a century later, the same applies. I love the line where the writer states he approached the difficult and complex problems with some intrepidation. Imagine what he would state if he were present today. As discussed on the Adjournment yesterday, the quay walls in Cork city date from the 19th century or earlier and are in precarious positions. This underlies the need for enhanced flood defence systems. Last night I made the point that 3,000 tonnes of rubble and concrete had been used to buttress the walls.

The television images and pictures of the human tragedy and human stories illustrate that the impact has not only been on human life but also on the environment - animal life, flora and the built environment have all changed. The Doherty report speaks about the need to address the perennial problem of flooding and states insightfully that it is a problem which shows no sign of alleviation. How true; it does not. To borrow a line from a Wolfe Tones' song, we are on the road again but should not be. I am not in the blame game but the devastation we have seen in the past ten or 20 days should never, in so far as humanly possible, be allowed to happen again. Like the Minister of State and Senator McFadden, I have been in the homes of people who have been flooded; they had no running water and there were vermin and sewage in the flood waters. I met elderly people who were upset and refused to go home. They talked not only of the loss of their personal belongings but of having the homes they had lived in for 60 or 70 years destroyed. No words of ours will ease the pain of that loss or take away their frustration.

The experts talk about climate change and global warming and the Minister, Deputy Gormley, has apportioned blame. The reality is that we all did not take the threat of flooding seriously. This report calls for effective co-ordination and co-operation among the statutory bodies, which share responsibility for managing the Shannon catchment area. The same applies to Cork. We need joined-up thinking. As Senator McFadden rightly said, we need one agency to take on this job.

I heard Gerald Fleming from Met Éireann interviewed on "Morning Ireland" the other morning. He gave a very good interview and was honest in what he said. I urge people to listen to what he said. I hope Met Éireann, the ESB and the relevant authorities, be it the city council or whichever authority is responsible for the Shannon area, together with the Office of Public Works and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, will work together, share information and communicate properly with the people to ensure this devastation cannot happen again.

I compliment everybody involved in the flood relief work. It underlines that ní neart go cur le chéile. The collaboration and community effort also underlines the great humanity in people, even in tragedy. We should never lose that.