Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming in here today to listen to our concerns about flooding. The last time I spoke to him concerned the area of Montpelier, County Limerick. A house there had been flooded twice over - the flood actually went in one door and out the other - and the Minister of State released funding to deal with it. The local authority there is currently carrying out the work and this time around, fortunately, the house in question was not flooded. I thank him for that. I wish to compliment the whole-of-Government approach to dealing with Storm Ophelia. While some claim we were not prepared, a lot of preparation was put in. I also thank the front-line workers who went above and beyond the call of duty, putting themselves out there to deal with problems as they arose and then with the subsequent clean-up. Some people are currently without electricity but this is being restored as quickly as possible.

On the issue of flooding, I will concentrate here on my home area of Limerick. We had horrific flooding in 2014 and the Minister of State's predecessor at that time released funding in order that works could be carried out. I am concerned, however, that local authorities do not always draw down the full amount of funding allocated to them, something I saw happen in Corbally. Corbally did not flood this time around but it might have done so had the wind blown differently. The area has suffered severe flooding many times. While some works had been done, not all of the projects applied for were carried out. This is what concerns me because in the event of future flooding, the area could suffer once again. Land is also being eroded in the area of Lisnagry, where the Mulcair drainage scheme was carried out several years ago. I know that the Minister of State's section has been made aware of this by local farmers, and that a pledge has been made to keep it under observation. Bits of the land and of the embankment are being washed away there and the situation needs to be addressed. What is important here is that we prepare for the future. We cannot rest on our laurels waiting for something to happen. We have to look at vulnerable areas, at areas that have had problems in the past and where there might be weak points along the River Shannon and the rest of the country's rivers. It is very important that we look at these weak spots and see if they can be strengthened. It might be time to call out to the local authorities to carry out surveys along the banks of the rivers to ascertain what flooding protections might be put in place. While the tide reached the highest point and while the county was on high-risk alert for quite a while, the river eventually abated and Limerick was not badly flooded this time. We need to look at the weak points, however, and see how they might be enhanced and strengthened for the future.