Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to this House. I have called for this debate for some time and while I will not attempt to go over ground that has already been covered, the Minister of State last week visited Cork, west Cork, Limerick and elsewhere. Consequently, he has seen at first hand what has happened and I welcome the financial packages his Department and the Government are putting in place to try to alleviate the serious flooding. I must also pay tribute to the resilience of the people as in some instances, places such as Skibbereen, Bandon, my home town of Bantry, and Clonakilty have been flooded several times. In some of these towns, substantial progress is under way for a flood defence scheme, which is welcome and hopefully can happen sooner rather than later. I wish the Minister of State due speed with those programmes.

I spoke some time ago by telephone to a friend about the storm that hit the south-west coast this morning, which probably has been the worst for 40 to 50 years. As I speak, ESB lines, trees and telephone masts have come down. I tried to call someone on his mobile telephone but after I eventually got through to him on a landline, he told me his telephone system has not been working today. It demonstrates the tremendous red alert that people in the Cork-Kerry region have been obliged to face this morning. People elsewhere in Ireland should be grateful they have not been hit by this tremendous storm, with gusts of up to 160 km/h, which is frightening.

While on my feet, I also wish to express my sympathies to the families of the two unfortunate Dutch nationals who were lost off my native Sheep's Head Peninsula. Thankfully, one body has been recovered and hopefully the other will also be recovered. However, in the context of these conditions, the tides and the Atlantic Ocean, I note from historical experience that a good friend of mine was lost at sea quite close to where I come from, on the same side of the Sheep's Head Peninsula, and his body was never recovered. I wish the recovery operation well and thank all those involved who helped in the rescue, including the Irish Coast Guard and the local community. It was necessary to call off the search because of the appalling weather in the area.

Without being parochial, I am somewhat concerned that my home town of Bantry has been left out of the loop as far as a flood relief plan is concerned. Whereas the flooding over the past three or four years has not been as serious as it was in locations such as Bandon, Clonakilty or Skibbereen, I note that on four recent consecutive occasions with high tides, Bantry town was flooded and some properties were damaged. My concern is the local authority and Office of Public Works, OPW, plan for the flood relief scheme for Bantry town is dependent on and related to the inner harbour development. In other words, it is dependent on their ability to do some work on the inner harbour where the river enters the sea.

My concern is this may be an interdepartmental issue involving the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar. He has passed over control of Bantry Harbour to Cork Port but leaving that issue aside - I do not intend to get into that debate today - I do not wish to see one entity pass the buck to the other because much of Bantry is low-lying and historically, the town has been flooded. In one sense, I am being selfish because given the Minister of State's input to and knowledge of the flood situation, I would prefer him to remain in that Department but that is a matter beyond my control. However, I urge the Minister of State to ascertain the current status of the Bantry flood relief scheme because over the course of my business life in Bantry comprising approximately 30 years, my old office has been flooded approximately once a year. Sometimes it happens four times in one year and then one might have no incidents for five or six years. I am not being selfish about this as there are many other hard-pressed ratepayers, shopkeepers and low-lying houses, as well as some apartments that are subject to flooding. I hope the Minister of State can take up this issue.

The most important point I wish to make today concerns the question of insurance. I have raised this matter numerous times in this Chamber and I believe I tabled notice of a motion two years ago. In this day and age, it is completely out of the question that someone who gets flooded once, through no fault of his or her own, has the door shut completely against him or her in respect of getting flood relief insurance or house insurance that covers flooding. Regardless of what the Minister of State must do, be it to legislate or to impose some sort of levy, I note this started a long time ago. It is perhaps 20 to 25 years since the PMPA got into difficulties and a levy was imposed on every other road user who had motor insurance to pay for that debacle. In the situations to which I refer, people who have found themselves flooded, as well as commercial businesses that are paying rates and all sorts of water charges, find themselves locked out.

The question I posed in this Chamber last week on the Order of Business concerns what will happen when the OPW's flood relief schemes are finished. For example, the schemes in Fermoy, Mallow or Clonmel are well advanced and are almost complete. Can some form of a guarantee be provided to enable people to approach the insurance companies? People should be able to tell the insurers that as these schemes are complete, the travesty of a huge flood, which hopefully might be a 50 or 100-year event, is unlikely to happen. They should be able to force insurance companies back on board without crucifying those property owners with private homes or businesses. This is something that must be built in because going back to the Minister of State's predecessor in his present role, I acknowledge the amount of work that has been done on flooding by the Office of Public Works for the past eight or ten years. It is an ongoing process but, unfortunately, there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel from the perspective of different towns, as different scenarios develop. The insurance issue will be of huge importance and it pertains to the peace of mind of ordinary people who can state they have been flooded previously with the loss of furniture, carpets and equipment. It is a crazy situation.

I understand some money is being made available in respect of flood relief for coastal areas. I do not ask the Minister of State to perform a Houdini-like trick and if one considers the coastline of Ireland in its entirety, it is a small island with thousands of kilometres of coastline and it will be impossible to defend every area. However, my message would be to highlight those areas that are vulnerable and try to protect them. The problem in my native region is that while we have plenty of mountains and peninsulas with rocks and cliffs, it is the safety of the people with which we are concerned.

I will conclude by making a point in respect of those who come to Ireland as visitors or people coming from Dublin or wherever to places such as west Cork or west Kerry to engage in hill walking or mountain walking. One must send out a clear signal that in conditions like those which obtain at present, doing so is absolute madness. I was involved in the Sheep's Head Way committee for years and last Saturday, when this terrible tragedy unfolded, was a day on which, as they say down in west Cork, one would not put a nasty bad dog outside the door. It was an appalling day. I appreciate that people who go there as visitors do not understand the gusts of wind that can be encountered when one goes on cliff walks. However, I hope a message can be sent out that hill walking, cliff walking and mountain climbing are great pastimes but there are times when it should not be done. I do not know how it can be prohibited, as opposed to sending out warnings, but it is most unfortunate because each year, there are incidents involving people being washed off rocks or off the Cliffs of Moher or down in County Kerry. It appears to be recurring and an attempt must be made to deal with this because it is an appalling vista for any family to be obliged to face.