Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I am sure the Minister has no problem with that because it is important that we hear the debate. I understand there was a similar debate in the Lower House last week.

I want first to acknowledge the efforts of the local authorities in responding to what were unprecedented weather conditions. Prior to Christmas serious flooding occurred in many areas and over the Christmas heavy snowfall and icy conditions prevailed throughout the country. While initially it appeared to be short term bad weather, there is no doubt that it escalated into a crisis in many areas. It appeared to the people in the areas outside Dublin, and we must remember that one third of our population lives outside the Dublin region, that it was only when the weather started to affect Dublin city that the Government sat up and took notice. The Minister can clarify whether that is right or wrong but that is the way it appeared to those living in country areas, which literally came to a stop during that period.

I will not go into all the details concerning resources for local authorities and so on. Local authorities carried the usual amount of salt reserves to respond to poor weather conditions such as ice and snow. Their normal resources were available to them. I understand the National Roads Authority has overall responsibility for co-ordinating resources such as salt to keep our national primary routes and other roads open but we found out during the poor weather conditions that the salt reserves quickly diminished. There was a great deal of head scratching going on not only at local authority level but also at Government level because there was no plan B in place whereby emergency reserves of salt and resources could be got into the country. I shudder to think what the outcome would have been if the very icy conditions had continued for a further week because I understand salt reserves were at a minimum at that stage. Fortunately, the thaw occurred.

We must learn from our mistakes but listening to the response from Government and its Ministers I am not sure they are willing to learn from the mistakes made during the problem we recently witnessed. I would prefer to see a Minister hold up his hand and say we may have had deficits in this area or weaknesses in the system elsewhere and we will positively address them. Instead, we had Ministers who were in denial about the fact there was not a national co-ordinated response.

I refer briefly to an article in The Irish Times by Tom Clonan and Mary Minihan. It states:

The Department of the Environment is the Government department with sole responsibility for identifying emergency weather conditions, reacting to the events and driving Government's response, according to a Government document.

The Irish Times has learned of a document outlining precisely which department is responsible for responding to a range of man-made and natural disasters.

The article further states:

In relation to extreme weather - such as the snow and icy conditions experienced of late - the document identifies the Department of the Environment as the lead government department with sole responsibility for identifying the emergency, reacting to it and driving a central government response.

No lead agency such as local authorities, the HSE or an Garda Síochána are identified as having what is described as a "lead response role". They are, however, identified as having a "principal support role".

We should reflect on that because I recall those Ministers who were in the country and those interested enough to return to deal with the problems and the Minister for Defence, Deputy O'Dea, said clearly that it was a matter for local authorities. I dispute that fact, and most reasonable people would have disputed it because the local authorities responded as best they could with the limited resources available to them but what was needed was a national co-ordinated effort from Government. When the adverse weather conditions became extreme, alarm bells should have sounded and responsibility for certain actions allocated to various people, whether it was at local, regional or national level. To give the Army credit, its members were willing and able to come into action and assist people who were isolated and get supplies to those who were in trouble. However, it was managed in a willy-nilly manner and left to local authorities to contact their own barracks when there should have been a national response with Garda resources being allocated from a national control centre and local authorities giving them clear direction as regards the resources and manpower allocations they could give them.

We now know it was the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I understand that many years ago there was to be a national response plan in place, and while there were many documents and much talk about drafting the plan, it was never approved by Government and never officially put in place. The Minister might clarify that matter for us because it is our understanding that the national emergency response plan was never finalised or fully approved by Government and, as we saw of late, never implemented.

I will deal briefly with the water issues and then the roads. As amusing as it might seem, due to freezing conditions and people leaving taps running water conservation quickly became an issue during the bad weather. We saw the effect the weather had on a number of substandard networks of water systems that are in place in our constituent local authority areas, where entire new housing estates were without water for weeks on end due to substandard installation of water networks. Local authorities seem to be shrugging their shoulders, so to speak, on the issue. I believe it is local authorities' responsibility to enforce proper standards in the installation of water networks and infrastructure. However, many of them will argue the bonds used as security against substandard installation would not even come near the cost of re-installing a water network. There is much work to be done in putting right existing substandard water systems. Residents who were the victims of the big freeze were let down by substandard water systems installed by developers in some areas and local authorities in others.

Fine Gael has argued that as water is such an important resource, an overarching water agency to regularly maintain and conserve the water network and its infrastructure should be established, something similar to how the ESB oversees the electricity network. It is not an attempt to take responsibility away from local authorities as they would have a role as agents for the national body in carrying out maintenance and minor installations. It is strange that in some areas there is no interconnection between various local authorities' water supplies. Every local authority is selfish in protecting its water sources and not sharing them with neighbouring areas.

As water is an asset, it is important we have systematic maintenance systems for the water network. Every waterway, gully, inlet, channel, dyke and stream should be digitally mapped with each local authority assigned to the upkeep of its area. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government should send a directive to local authorities to oblige them to carry out essential maintenance to all waterways. Unfortunately, the lack of essential maintenance to drainage systems was the main reason there was much flood damage caused to our road network. I would hate to see large investment being made to restore our road network only for it to be destroyed by more floods caused by a lack of clear waterways and drainage systems.

Much work needs to be done to co-ordinate local authorities in responding to flooding, road damage and water conservation. Over 40% of the water supply leaking into the ground is unacceptable and must be tackled.