Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran. The Green Party is obviously flexing its muscles today. Earlier the House debated the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill and now we have been informed that during the past seven years Fianna Fáil spent €140 million on water services. Senator Ó Brolcháin also informed us that the Green Party, through the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has managed to spend €300 million on water service initiatives in a few months. What the Green Party has done today is engage in an exercise of rubbing Fianna Fáil's nose in it. However, I do not know whether this will go down well with the senior party in government.

The difficulties experienced as a result of flooding in November, severe weather in December and January and water shortages, which are ongoing, have been compounded by the Government which has lost all capacity to plan and act quickly in an emergency. The Government never prepared a national plan to deal with severe weather. That is why its initial response to the recent severe weather took such a long time to organise.

A couple of weeks ago, the Office of Emergency Planning's website stated that: "A national framework for response to severe weather emergencies is being developed to ensure that all existing local severe weather plans are appropriately coordinated and linked." It is obvious, therefore, that a national plan was not in place. A national crisis requires a national response. It is evident from what was stated on the Office of Emergency Planning's website that there was no national response to the recent severe weather.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, attempted to cobble together a response some three weeks into the big freeze when people were still suffering as a result of his initial failure to initiate such a response. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Dempsey, stated during the crisis that he was not needed. There are some who might suggest that he is still not needed. Earlier, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government indicated that Ireland's response to the severe weather was better than that which obtained in other countries and that we were able to clear airport runways much faster. Does the Minister live on the same planet as everyone else? The countries to which he refers were obliged to deal with between six to 14 inches of snow. Only a couple of inches of snow fell in Ireland but the Minister is boasting about his response in the context of clearing roads, etc.

Like previous speakers, I express my admiration for the valiant efforts of local authority staff who dealt with the crisis caused by the severe weather during the holiday period. They did so despite a lack of leadership at national level. There is no doubt that these people behaved heroically despite the cut in Government funding and the laying off of a large number of temporary staff.

What should a national plan contain? It should clearly identify specific named routes to be cleared and gritted as a first priority. Access to airports should be cleared and ports should remain accessible. Major hospitals should remain accessible. There should be ambulance and medical evacuation contingencies. It should identify specific public transport routes to be serviced as a priority if bus and rail services fail. We should use military transport to move people if public transport fails and assign military units for specific routes. It should identify regions where the population is isolated and vulnerable and assign military helicopters and trucks accordingly. This is the type of national plan we need.

The response was pathetic. It is appropriate at this time to examine how in 2010 Ireland could suffer such massive systems failures that resulted in prolonged water shortages when the country is still recovering from record levels of flooding. The answer is simple. It is down to lack of leadership and reform by the Government. As has been stated, Fianna Fáil stood over a system that saw 43% of all drinking water lost through leaks before the recent cold weather caused the problems affecting supplies today. We need to shake up the entire system radically to ensure a dependable, clear and cost effective water supply is available for everybody.

While the past six months were some of the wettest in the past 50 years, it surprised many how quickly water shortages can develop following damage in a few key areas. This is as a result of having a fragmented, inefficient and outdated water system. There is a need for interaction and a co-ordinated approach between the local authorities. Senator Coffey has outlined our policy in this regard.

Following the recent flooding and severe weather conditions our regional and local roads are in an appalling state. We can all see them for ourselves. Four Oireachtas Members met in Waterford last week. The county manager reported that it would cost at least €5 million to repair and restore the roads because the damage is so extensive. The same is replicated throughout the country. The local authority has asked that capital funds be used to repair these roads, an option which should be examined by Government. Some 94% of our roads are regional and local. They carry approximately 60% of the traffic and 43% of all goods. It is shocking to think of the dangerous conditions drivers are now expected to endure because of the Government's failure to allocate the necessary funding. Road safety is essential to all road improvement and maintenance work and is supposed to be a key plank in the Government's road investment programme. Despite this we see how the Government has cut the funding for roads which will leave our roads in a disgraceful state. This is the legacy of the Government's lack of investment that saw an allocation for non-national roads of €607 million in February 2009. By the end of the year only €411 million was spent, a cut of 32%. This is the legacy of the Government.