Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for his swift response to the flooding in Inishowen in east Donegal. In fairness to him, he was up there straight away and spent a couple of days in the area. I met him on the ground at a number of locations. He also attended a meeting with councillors and the local authority management team. As such, I acknowledge his personal commitment to the issue. However, I need his assistance today with regard to other Ministers on some of the issues I wish to raise because there are still some gaps which I will now go through.

Colleagues here will have heard me raise every week in the Seanad the issue of Swan Park in Buncrana and Glenevin Waterfall in Clonmany. Swan Park is a key community amenity beside the River Crana in our town, in the history of which it is steeped. I ask people to think of a park in their own cities or towns which is beloved, where people go, where one meets one's friends and which represents a central part of community life. This park has been destroyed by the floods, is closed to the public right now and will remain so for an indefinite period. We need some type of special fund for this. Unfortunately, Donegal County Council will not be able to restore Swan Park on its own. Estimates of the cost stand at over €1 million. I ask the Minister of State and his officials who are listening in to the debate to talk to other Ministers about this. I have put down a question for the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Michael Ring, but the difficulty with parliamentary questions is that they go to departmental officials whereas we need the Ministers who visited the area and know about these issues to look at it. Glenevin Waterfall is an amazing amenity. There is a walk up to the waterfall which was built up by the local community. Since the floods, people have done tremendous work to restore it and, as they have gone a long way, it will not take a fortune of money to make this happen. However, they need that financial assistance.

The next issue is one the Minister of State will appreciate. He will have heard about it from farmers and people up there at the time. I refer to the involvement of the OPW, Inland Fisheries Ireland and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in the maintenance of rivers and streams. It will be a partnership and a team effort. I ask that these bodies work in partnership with farmers and local authorities to ensure that the maintenance of rivers and streams is approached properly and that we have the regular cutting back of trees where they have the potential to create blockages. There must also be realignment of rivers where necessary and that must obviously be done in the proper way. Dredging must take place at appropriate locations. Given the level of rain that came down, there was always going to be flooding. However, the scale of the problem did not, perhaps, need to be so great. There are lessons we can all take from that.

The next issue is flood defences in Burnfoot village, which the Minister of State is passionate about. They should have been in place by now. I ask that the Minister of State fast-track the construction of the flood defence in co-operation with Donegal County Council, not only there but in other parts of the county. While I appreciate there is work that has to be done elsewhere, Burnfoot stands out like a sore thumb. The people there were badly impacted by the flood and they need flood defences. I know the Minister of State agrees and that we just need to work together to fast-track it.

The next issue is that of sporting organisations. The Minister of State saw the damage to Cockhill Celtics ground in Buncrana town where a couple of the club's pitches have been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of euro worth of damage has been done. The club falls into that gap because it is not a farming organisation and the cost is well beyond the €15,000 ceiling in the Red Cross administered fund. A number of sporting organisations were affected, including Illies Celtic, Dunree Boxing Club, Clonmany Shamrocks, Clonmany Community Centre, Sea Rovers and other football clubs in Malin. Cockhill Celtic, however, has been devastated and will require special intervention. I ask the Minister of State or his officials to communicate that.

The next issue is agriculture. A scheme is in place for farmers with a maximum payout of €15,000. A number of potato growers, however, have been completely devastated. I went out to the farm of one potato grower and spent hours with an agricultural advisor and friend of his. I also spent time with the farmer, Seamus Lynch, a good, hard-working and honourable man. The damage to his business is of the order of €300,000. It is heartbreaking. He was growing world-class rooster potatoes on top-quality soil but it has all been destroyed. All the neighbours and advisors came out to pump the water and did their best to get it away but his farm is destroyed and his heart is broken. Nevertheless, there is nothing there for him because he falls through the gap. It is too big a burden to carry at €300,000. There are other potato and crop growers who fall, unfortunately, through that gap as well. We must address that. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, will have to meet with farm organisations in Donegal to hear more about these gaps and shortfalls.

The Minister of State saw the issue with water and sewerage infrastructure himself. I was with him when he went into the house in Burnfoot. Fair play to him, he did not stand back but went inside and saw for himself what happened. Raw sewage went through people's houses and I acknowledge that the Minister walked through it and saw it. We need Irish Water to fast-track the necessary works on sewerage plants which are vulnerable to flooding. Not only has flood water gone through people's homes, there has been raw sewage. It is devastating for people. The Minister of State saw the heartbreak when he was there. While I appreciate that the Minister of State is being good enough to listen to this today, we need a whole-of-government response and taking of responsibility. Nobody is dealing with the specific issues I am raising, yet we are now two months on.

Another issue is private roads. An enhanced local improvement scheme package is required. All of these private roads and lanes were destroyed by the floods but there is nothing for them. In fairness, the public roads and bridges will be restored, which is to be commended, but the private lanes are destroyed and there is very little there for them beyond a couple of loads of stone here and there.

I ask the Government to stop using the phrase "Once in 100 years". We need to stop saying it. I heard President Donald Trump in America use the phrase "Once every 500 years" regarding the challenges there. In Donegal alone in recent years, Finn Valley has been flooded, as have Kilmacrennan, Kerrykeel, and Ramelton. Our major acute hospital in Letterkenny was flooded with serious consequences. We have now had floods on the Inishowen Peninsula in east Donegal. These are regular occurrences and it will be an ongoing reality. That is why climate change deniers must be confronted head on. This is the reality of what we face.

The following is no responsibility of the Minister of State as it relates to the period before his time in office. By late 2015, the Government was to have submitted its flood management plans to the European Commission. A number of measures have been taken and the preliminary assessments to identify river basins and associated coastal areas at risk of flooding have been submitted on time. Flood risk maps have been submitted on time also. However, the flood risk management plans, which were due in late 2015, have been confirmed by the European Commission, on foot of questions submitted by my colleague, Mr. Matt Carthy MEP, to be the subject of infringement action against the State due to the delay.I acknowledge that the Minister of State inherited this challenge, as I said, and I attribute no blame to him in this regard. However, his Department must get this matter over the line against the background of everything that has happened across the State in recent times. The EU floods directive was introduced in late 2007 in the wake of the major flooding which took place that year across the Continent. There was a recognition that lessons had to be learned by way of the introduction of certain responsibilities for member states as set out under the directive. Those responsibilities are intended to protect communities. The Minister of State has walked the walk on this issue in his own community and other communities. He understands the implications of climate change and of not having proper plans in place to address its effects. As someone who is relatively new to his office, he has demonstrated a solid position on these matters. I was impressed by his travelling to my area, where he spent two days talking to members of the community there. He is the man to affect change on this matter, but it will require his Government colleagues standing with him to make it happen.