John Gilroy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

The first thing we should acknowledge is the sheer resilience of communities and businesspeople in the face of unprecedented flooding. The Minister of State and I were in Cork during the week and saw at first hand the effect of flooding on residents; it has been devastating for them. The Minister of State will have seen the damage done to the centre of Cork city, where businesses are in real trouble. The macro-image people like to paint concerns businesses in real trouble but the micro-image concerns the personal distress, as witnessed also by the Minister of State. He was speaking to Claire Nash from Nash 19, a restaurant in which she employs 24 people. There is a real danger that her whole business model will have been undermined by the flooding. We wish her well and hope it does not come to this. Along the street in question, Princes Street, there are 84 businesses. If one did not know the short street, one could hardly conceive that 84 different enterprises could operate there. Probably 300 people are employed along the street although it is not 150 yd in length. This is but one side street off Oliver Plunkett Street, which bore the brunt of the flooding. We pay tribute to the traders and communities in Cork on their resilience.

We saw the flooding in Limerick, where we saw at first hand that Kings Island was so badly damaged along with several hundred houses. The resilience of the people there needs to be acknowledged.

Senator Cullinane referred to the response at local level by local authority workers, ESB staff and everybody else. They sometimes get bad press and people sometimes complain about overstaffing in the public service but we must ask whether these are the kinds of people we would be inclined to lay off when we make such complaints. I, for one, would say they absolutely are not.

During his visit to Cork, I was glad to hear the Minister of State announce the €50 million or €100 million budget that has been put aside, and that Cork has been prioritised for flood defences. The problem in Cork is multifaceted because there are different types of flooding in the region at different times. A combination of geographical and meteorological features caused tidal flooding, which occurred in the city on the last occasion. In other places, such as Glanmire in June 2012, the sheer volume of rain falling into the valleys across County Cork caused the flooding. Dunmanway and other places in west Cork were similarly damaged. Some 56 houses in Meadowbrook Estate in Glanmire were overwhelmed by water that reached a depth of 6 ft. The residents are just getting back on their feet. The immediate response to their problem was reasonably good, although it could, perhaps, have been better. Again, the insurance companies have been dragging their feet. When people are flooded out of their homes, they become very distressed and vulnerable, and insurance companies tend to play a long game with them, making a derisory first offer. Owing to the conditions some residents are in, they are inclined to regard this as a final offer and they accept a sum that is way too low. This occurred constantly among the residents of Meadowbrook who were blackguarded by the insurance companies. This is the best way to describe it. This kind of practice must be stopped. The insurance companies are very mobile because they are multinationals; they can get up and go in the morning. Therefore, our response to them must be robust but, by its nature, it is rather limited.

All sorts of issues arise with regard to flooding in Cork, Limerick and Waterford. With Councillor Robert Ireton in Courtown last week, I saw the damage done to the harbour. One could not imagine it unless one saw it. The sheer force of the water that damaged the harbour and surrounding beaches was remarkable. We can blame bad planning, of course, as it certainly can play a role, but on this occasion the problem was the unprecedented volume of water combined with meteorological factors.

It is good to see that the flood defences for Cork are the first national priority. Addressing the problem will require 12 km of walls. I was in the United Kingdom talking to officials from Somerset County Council in a place called Cockermouth, a small village where some rather innovative flood defence barriers were installed. In Cork, we are very proud of our river and the ability to gain access thereto from all parts of the city. There is concern that raising the walls might limit this ability a little. The people in Somerset have constructed a very innovative and effective response whereby the flood defences actually rise with the tide. As the river rises, the flood defences, which comprise walls along the riverbanks, rise with it.

They are 100% effective and while cost probably would be an issue with that one, in an ideal world it is the kind of defence-----