Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for affording me time. With regard to Storm Ophelia, I would like to acknowledge the phenomenal work done by public servants on the ground in Limerick through Limerick City and County Council, the HSE, An Garda Síochána and every other public body involved. It was a day we could be proud of our public servants and the work they do. I take grave exception to the behaviour of the people who abused and wasted valuable time for emergency services. We will have to examine this. There has to be a punishment if people waste valuable time when emergency services could be saving lives. Unfortunately, three people lost their lives yesterday, which will have a significant impact on their families. That demonstrates the power of nature. What we must take out of yesterday is that this will become a recurring feature. We were supposed to have floods every 100 years but we are now having them every five or six years. We need to put a structure in place to ensure that if something like this happens again, the people who are abusing the time of the emergency services are held to account. They should probably be brought to court in some form. I took grave exception to this behaviour yesterday and we need to look at it.