John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Simon Harris, is in the House today to discuss this important issue. Flooding may have abated for the moment but it certainly has not gone away and it will be back. A hard rain has fallen and it will keep coming back until we deal with it with some purpose, some vision and serious sustainable and long-term strategies. Present company excluded, I am surprised we have not been drowned and flooded for a second time with the amount of crocodile tears that have flowed in the past six weeks from people talking out of both sides of their mouths and being dishonest by telling people there can be quick-fix solutions and it can all be sorted with flood defences, dredging and drainage. In some instances the drainage works of the past have caused flooding on neighbours' land and adjacent properties in towns and villages. The flood defences worked in Carrick-on-Suir, as Senator Denis Landy outlined, and in other towns such as Clonmel and Fermoy but they also certainly caused flooding further downstream. We see on an ongoing basis with the Shannon that we solve a problem in one spot by opening up the sluice, the weir or the dam but we flood Cork or Athlone or towns further down. We have to stop being selfish and pretending that this will do and that this is the answer. There are people playing to the gallery on this and who just want to make an electoral and political football out of it but we cannot deal with it in this way. There have been very good ideas today and Senators Fidelma Healy Eames, Denis Landy and others have come forward with some good suggestions. I am glad the Minister of State is here as he is a listening Minister and someone who will take these suggestions up and try to implement some of them. However, we must have a holistic approach.

In some instances I do not agree with the Minister that it is just a natural phenomenon and a matter of climate change. Some of it is man-made and we are causing some of the flooding ourselves. In some cases it is State agencies which are responsible. The ESB has a role and the OPW and Coillte have roles. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has a role but it seems to me that, in some instances, they do not all sing from the same hymnsheet and they certainly do not co-operate with, assist and support each other. In some cases, some of their objectives and purposes are at odds and we must address this. This was clearly shown at the height of the flooding when Bord na Móna was draining bogs and pumping water into an already flooded Shannon basin.