Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the Minister of State that, unfortunately, I will not be in the Chamber for his responses later as I have to go down to the west to the wind and the rain. I acknowledge the fact he was the only one from the Government at the beginning who realised the seriousness of this problem. He was the only Minister who went on the public airwaves after the disaster inflicted on the west, particular west Clare, on 3 January 2014. I was disappointed the Government did not call the emergency co-ordinating committee meeting until the Monday, 6 January, when it should have taken place on the Friday or Saturday to pull the various streams together. It took 24 to 48 hours for some of the damage in isolated rural parts of the west to come to public attention. There were certain parts of Clare where the seriousness of the damage caused only became known on Sunday morning.

That said, we are where we are. It has been a unique set of circumstances and unprecedented change in weather. We are fortunate that the previous Government and this Government have invested in flood defences. Where they have been installed, they have worked. The classic example is Ennis, County Clare. In Christmas 2009, Ennis was under water. Thankfully, significant work has been carried out on the town’s flood defences in several phases under the auspices of the OPW. This has resulted in Ennis being protected from flooding now.

There will have to be a partnership with Europe on flood alleviation. The Minister of State outlined the long-term strategy and I welcome the engagement is already under way. Hopefully, within the next several years we will have adequate defence barriers in place. The Minister rightly pointed out the nature of the western coastline is unique, requiring a certain approach. We need to retain the best possible advice on how we deal with this. There is no point in throwing good money after bad. We must ensure it is spent wisely and properly, having the desired result.

I welcome yesterday’s announcement of €70 million to go towards the repair work in various counties. Clare could do with 50% of that, as the damage caused there is estimated to be approximately €34 million. I accept there are many other counties with substantial bills as well.

As a temporary measure, I would like to see one Minister in charge of pulling the response of various Departments and agencies together. Unfortunately, there is a multidepartmental approach with the Departments of Transport, Tourism And Sport, the Environment, Community and Local Government, the OPW and Social Protection. At this stage, it would be appropriate to have one Minister with overall responsibility for one lead Ministry to liaise with local authorities. In some cases, there is confusion as to whether the OPW or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is in charge of coastal protection. Roads come under the Department of Transport, Tourism And Sport. Given the unique nature of what has happened, it would be appropriate for the Government to appoint a lead Minister, even a junior Minister with access to the various Departments to pull their responses together.

That would mean that when a council or public representative talked to a Minister, he or she would know that Minister was the person who was in a position to pull it all together and make recommendations to the various other Ministers.

The concept of red and orange alerts is a new phenomenon. Perhaps there were red alerts during the years, but I have not heard of them. Thankfully, we were probably in a situation where we did not need to hear them. I agree with Senator Thomas Byrne - protocols must be introduced. If there is a red alert in a particular area, certain services will have to be put on stand by. Where necessary, schools, universities and other public operations would have to be advised to close in advance. That is very reasonable. It is unacceptable that students in University College Cork, UCC, are being told to stay indoors. The red alert has been in place for 24 hours. I do not know what the lead agency to deal with it is, but it needs to be factored in in our emergency planning.

We are in a new reality which requires leadership. The Government has stepped up to the plate in this regard and some €70 million has been made available. I am looking forward to seeing the breakdown, particularly what will be given to the counties that have been worst affected. I have not yet been advised of how much will be allocated to County Clare. I presume it will be at the discretion of the local authority to prioritise where it affects lives and homes, in particular. I thank the Minister for coming to County Clare a couple of weeks ago and visiting some of the families whose houses have been flooded and who are still out of their homes. There is a big job of work to be done. We can talk here ad nauseam. Everyone has a contribution to make and all contributions need to feed into the process. We need to learn from the experience. I would like protocols and a lead ministry to be established.