Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran, and thank him for the kind and courteous way in which he dealt with people in Mullingar today. I really appreciated that.

I raise this matter because of a meeting held in Ballinasloe on Sunday, 17 January 2010. The Irish Farmers' Association convened the meeting under the chairmanship of the new president, John Bryan. It was a very successful meeting attended by 700 people. All of the people there had been affected by flooding. It is hard for me to explain how awful it is for people who have not been devastated by it. It is a most extraordinary situation which I have discussed at length with the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Mansergh.

The most fundamental need now is for a single agency which will take control of the maintenance of the River Shannon and its tributaries. That is the bottom line. The IFA said that for 70 years nothing has been done in regard to siltation in the river. I have listed the organisations involved before but I will do so again. The ESB, the Office of Public Works, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the fisheries board, Bord na Móna and Shannon Navigation all have vested interests. All do very worthwhile work; I am not condemning or castigating any of the organisations. However, when there is a crisis or when serious maintenance is needed, none will take responsibility and spend the money to look after the river. There was an obligation on Bord na Móna to provide silting ponds, which it did. However, who monitored it or who was responsible to ensure there was ongoing maintenance of those siltation ponds?

Numerous reports have been done, including the Rydell report after the 1954 flood and the 2000 and 2001 reports, which were good reports done by the late Seán Doherty, may he rest in peace. We do not really need more reports. We need action, with a single agency taking responsibility and the lead.

The Minister of State attended that meeting and spoke about giving more powers to the Office of Public Works. That is welcome but it is not necessarily that it will have the authority to manage the ESB or national parks and wildlife service. It is outrageous that a small fish can hold up the drainage of the Shannon or that siltation cannot be spread on the land because it would affect flora and fauna. While I am as green as the next person and I aspire to protecting the environment all the time, the devastation and the loss of livelihood for those living on the banks of the Shannon is indescribable. These people are still suffering and farmers are anxious about how they will feed their animals. This is the third time the callows of the Shannon have flooded this year. It is devastating for families, businesses and the midlands in general, along with Cork and the other areas that were flooded.

I commend the IFA and wish the new president, Mr. John Bryan, well. His foresight in giving Mr. Michael Silke, a responsible officer in the IFA, the lead in dealing with flooding, when he knows what it is like to be devastated by flooding, is to be welcomed. I look forward to engaging further with the Minister of State.