James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and wish him well in his portfolio. I could spend time here talking about coal in China, about individual conspicuous energy consumption in the United States or about deforestation in Brazil and so forth. What affects us here in this country, however, are major recurring events, sometimes not so major, in fact, but occurring rather on a local level. In my own area of Fingal, for example, one can see coastal erosion that was not there before, shifting up one end of the beach. One then hears stories of similar cases from the 1940s and 1950s.

When it comes to flooding, I think we can all agree that prevention is better than cure. I want to focus on the area of Portrane here. We have had Ministers visit before and money was given to ensure that action be taken to build flood defences. One house in the area is in danger of falling into the sea, while there is a section of the beach where, should a breach occur, a whole housing estate on the low-lying land behind it would be cut off. One end of the Burrow would be cut off, in fact. I want to take advantage of today's debate to appeal to the Minister of State to remind the OPW that this issue in Portrane has not gone away. As Senator Byrne pointed out, had high tide coincided with high wind on Monday we might be in a very different position today. Like others, I commend the Government on its actions in preparing for this storm and in communicating to the vast bulk of the population the seriousness of the matter and the need to take precautions. I would, however, also like to invite the Minister of State to come down to Portrane again at some point to see the situation in the Burrow for himself. I would like him to take the opportunity to put in place the kind of precautionary measures that would save many homes and prevent future difficulties for all concerned.