Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. We have learned much in this crisis which has been handled very well by everybody. Perhaps the economic problems since 2008 have stiffened our national resolve in these matters.

The Minister of State referred to the works done in the past and theoretical work. A man called Colonel Rydell came to Ireland after the River Shannon floods in the 1950s. He came from the US army corps of engineers and his solutions were very much the pragmatic ones about which the Minister told us today such as moving houses to higher ground. The River Shannon will flood agricultural land which during the winter does not cost very much. We must consider this. As Mr. Colm McCarthy, the well known economist, said, one could spend a lot of money changing wet rocks into dry rocks, with no impact on national output or production; therefore, there are some dangers in this regard. That is what we did. It is no harm that the Minister of State has thrown in all of the suggestions to see what comes out, but Colonel Rydell rejected the suggestion of building a canal from the upper Shannon to drain it into Sligo Bay. The cost of going through the Ox Mountains would have been huge. He also rejected the suggestion of diverting the River Suck, which floods, into the River Hind. Senator Rónán Mullen was here earlier. Somebody from Roscommon said the River Hind was a much smaller river than the River Suck and that it would not be possible to do it. Let us have all of these ideas. People have ideas about what causes these events and how we should deal with them.

The planning laws were referred to. The Minister of State is right to resolve that if we know there is a record of flood plains in an area, it is not open for building, even though planning permissions would traditionally have resulted in very large capital gains for the people who bought that land. I agree with him on the insurance industry. We need all financial services, banks, insurance and pension companies which we discussed earlier to step up to the mark and deliver a far better service than they have been doing. That also applies to health insurance. The insurance industry should reward consumers for the very substantial improvements in road safety. Let us see this manifest in what people pay. As the Minister of State said, if we drain a place, sometimes at substantial cost, in Kilkenny, Fermoy, Mallow or Ennis, it should be insured and there should be a substantial reduction to reflect the capital investment made by the State to reduce the risk. Many financial services organisations have taken the view that they need not worry as they will always land into the Exchequer. With a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120%, we cannot do this; we need a more efficient performance from the insurance industry all around.

I agree with the Minister of State's priority on the situation in Cork. As an outsider, it is incredible to me that in 2009 organisations failed and the city of Cork was flooded, mostly owing to the ESB not talking to Cork City Council or the council not talking to citizens. Many people are not satisfied with what has been resolved since. It almost seems to be a case of covering up who was responsible rather than doing something, as the Minister of State said. There would be a substantial return on measures to stop a major commercial centre such as the city of Cork from flooding. The Minister of State said that as early as July there would be plans to stop the city of Cork from flooding.