Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important issue as we face into winter. We can have all the actions we need to enable us to deal with what may be around the corner but we often forget the most vulnerable in society, especially older people and those in rural areas. In severe weather conditions it is important that we are all cognisant of the fact that people may be isolated. While we can write things in plans to address such things they are really down to human nature and the goodness of neighbours and these will be a vital component of a Be Winter-Ready plan.

The Be Winter-Ready campaign was established following the brutal and uncharacteristically cold winters of 2009 and 2010. I would be hesitant to call it a "knee-jerk" reaction but it is unfortunate that we only began to think about the campaign after the event. As the Minister said, last year we had 189% of average rainfall and the winter-ready campaign now has an emphasis on flood-related activities. It is always positive to hear such things being done but it would be better to have had them before the event. We cannot allow the memories of last year to fade away without learning the lessons.

A major fall-out of the flooding was related to insurance and the vulnerable people in flood risk areas are living a nightmare whether it is winter, spring, summer or autumn. While not directly related to today's topic it is a side-effect of a severe winter that has to be addressed immediately so that people can be at ease in their homes. If people cannot gain home insurance it is very hard to sleep easy at night.

I compliment all the agencies who came to the aid of people, whether in a voluntary capacity or as part of their daily duties, in 2009 and 2010. I encourage more voluntary organisations to buy into the Be Winter-Ready campaign. The IFA in rural areas, for example, co-ordinates a four-wheel drive scheme so that if there is severe snow or frost and people cannot access small lanes in backward rural areas, local farmers will provide a four-wheeled vehicle for that purpose. I commend such schemes and we all need to buy into them. We cannot blame anybody for the weather. While politicians are blamed for almost everything else they cannot yet be blamed for the weather because we do not know what is around the corner and nobody is in control of it. Anything can happen overnight so awareness and being prepared are as important as having written documents and plans.