Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I also commend him on his prompt response on the ground. On 27 December, two days after Christmas, I had to text him about a very urgent situation in Labane in Galway, just south of my home, where a woman feared for her life as the floods were rising. She also had depression, which made the situation worse. My purpose in standing here today is to talk to the Minister of State about what works well. He knows there is a serious problem across the country. Half of Ireland has been under water. With climate change now a reality - and one that is not going to go away - we must look afresh at our country. I am delighted the Minister of State is present for this debate. One lesson we must learn is that anyone whose property was flooded in 2009 and again in 2015 was, let us face it, let down by the State. Any works that rely on the election cycle will fail the people. The State must assume responsibility for the work that needs to be done, regardless of the Government that is in power.In 2009 we had a Fianna Fáil-led Government and in 2015 we have a Fine Gael-led Government and, between the two, people fell.

We have some good news stories. I can talk about homes in Moneymore and Oranmore in my own parish that were flooded and in terrible shape in 2009. They did not re-flood because the works were done by the OPW and here is how it happened. I called a public meeting of all the farmers and homeowners in that area, which was also attended by the OPW, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the county council. The OPW agreed to lead. The National Parks and Wildlife Service could see the misery these people were in but the local river needed to be dredged and the National Parks and Wildlife Service obliged in this respect. One wonderful farmer, Mr. John Brennan, led the farmers and worked with the OPW. Over a series of years those drainage works were done and the water was taken to the sea. It worked and those people are deeply grateful. There were some successful works in Claregalway but others were not successful and some works were not finished. I am delighted to hear that the final phase is under way but it was a miss.

I am very concerned about the humanitarian fund and that it might be means tested. This happened after 2009, when people failed to get the support they needed. There was one loss of life - through suicide - as a result of the very slow relocation process and this is well known locally. It really saddened me that, although every public representative in Galway represented that family for three years, as soon as the loss of life happened the family got the home.

The good news, which I put on the record last week, is that re-planting native trees in upland areas and incentivising farmers to be flood protectors are working in other countries. In Wales there is a project called the Pontbren project, led by Bangor University and farmers. By planting only 5% of their uplands and hilly areas with broadleaf native species of tree they have improved the situation as regards flooding by 29%. We need to look very seriously at doing that here. The woodland league has brought the information to me that native trees, with their deep roots, can absorb water 67 times faster than grasslands. South Galway is ruined. I am the chair of the Yeats Thoor Ballylee society and the water is now up to the thatch in Coole Park. I brought in pictures of when we brought in Sir Bob Geldof recently to help us. He is fronting a documentary on Yeats but the only way we could show Yeats's home to him was in a boat. Coole Park, the former home of Lady Gregory, is absolutely ruined and the water is up on the autograph tree where all the famous poets and literary figures to whom she was a patron have signed their names. If Derrybrien and Slieve Aughty were replanted with native trees they would soak the water before it flowed downhill. Even saplings of only two years old act as natural flooding absorbers.

We need to incentivise our farmers to be flood protectors because the farmers own the land and there is a lot of goodwill out there to improve this. I listened to Senators Landy and Mooney and they all have mountains and hilly areas in their environs so let us plant these trees. We must get Coillte on side; the Minister has a problem in this regard. Coillte owns 1.2 acres of our forest areas but they are planting conifers for the timber crop. They do not have deep roots and are not a native species. The Minister has to mix it.

A report of COFORD and UCD states that we want 30% broadleaf criteria so the Minister should be planting native varieties such as oak, mountain ash and willow by afforestation and new planting on virgin ground and reforestation after clear felling or harvesting a tree crop. There are other native varieties so I ask the Minister to seriously look at these criteria. Coillte is a semi-State agency. It owes the State as well as its shareholders. Climate change is upon us and is not going away so the State needs to look at sustainable solutions. We know drainage works by bringing the water to the sea and that flood defences help but now we must work with our environment. The Minister of State is the best man to place this information before because he has a bit of vision. He is a worker and he is not afraid to take the lead. How can we ignore the importance of this evidence? It is also working in Norway and they have 50% less flooding because they are heeding the evidence for planting trees with deep roots in upland areas. They are our native species and we were traditionally a woodland people.