Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to the Minister of State because I have to leave after I make my contribution as my committee meeting is starting at 1.30 p.m. I pay tribute to the Minister of State, who has done an excellent job since he has taken up the portfolio. I am very jealous because it is an area I would very much appreciate having an opportunity to work in. There is probably very little that I would do differently from the Minister of State.

I also compliment his staff. I have dealt with OPW staff over the past ten to 15 years and the professionalism and courtesy with which they have treated me and many others has been much appreciated. I want to put the work they do on the record of the House. It has been excellent. Any time I am offered a private contractor or the OPW, I always opt for the OPW and long may it continue its work to its excellent standard.

Flooding is an issue on which the country is united. Whether one lives in an urban or rural area, we all have the same problems. Councillor Fiona Bonfield contacted me about Newport in County Tipperary, and I had a conversation with the Minister of State about the town's additional needs since it was flooded. The Nenagh municipal council contacted me and is crying out for additional resources to deal with drainage and flooding issues affecting that area of Tipperary. I could mention many others right across the country.

The €1 billion budget the Minister of State has is very welcome and it is probably what he asked for because he is capable of spending it. We have to be practical. These things require resourcing, planning and time. We will have to consider flooding in the long term and the short term. I suggest that the Minister of State consider investing some of his €1 billion budget in some short-term mechanisms which could help to prevent flooding. I refer in particular to sustainable urban drainage, SUD. Some of the €1 billion invested in that area would alleviate some flooding in towns and cities by delaying monster rain from entering watercourses. Investment in SUDs would be worthwhile and cost-effective.

It would require buy-in from the Department and local authorities as well as local communities. In certain circumstances, people will have to give up parking areas to allow for soakage. An area the size of the Phoenix Park has been lost to driveways in urban areas. There is cause and effect. People often ask why they cannot cover their driveways with tarmacadam or cement, but driveways provide important soakage.

I foresee problems in respect of Irish Water and flooding. Urban areas such as Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick have combined sewers. Rivers such as the Swan in the Pembroke drainage system are part of a combined sewer. When flooding happens or there is monster rain, the effect is seen in that the sewers flood. The Minister of State will have to work with local authorities and Irish Water to deal with combined sewers. That will be very difficult to negotiate.

I did a lot of work with the Minister of State's predecessor, Brian Hayes MEP, on a memorandum of understanding with insurance companies. I acknowledge the work officials put into that. The insurance companies have reneged on the agreement. Millions have been spent from Clonmel to Ringsend to ensure houses will never flood again, yet homeowners cannot get flood insurance. I attended many of the meetings when the negotiations were ongoing. Insurance Ireland wanted the OPW to give the information in a manageable mechanism which insurance companies could use. The Department bent over backwards to supply the information in the form the insurance companies wanted, but they are still reneging on the agreement.I would like them to be called to task, and no better man to do this than the Minister of State. If such amounts of taxpayers' moneys are to be invested, people should be able to get household insurance. Some people may ask why this is important. If the House is secure and will not be flooded again, what is the big deal? The big deal arises when the homeowner tries to sell his or her home. Any prospective buyer will be unable to get a mortgage if he or she cannot get flood insurance, even though the taxpayer has invested millions of euro in ensuring these areas are now safe from flooding. This inability to sell on means people are stuck in homes that are unsuitable because their families have got bigger. I believe there has been a breakdown of trust from the insurance companies. I reiterate that the staff of the OPW did a huge amount of work to ensure this work was supplied in the manner requested by the insurance companies. Those companies are now looking for excuses. I do not believe that is acceptable. I should mention that Brian Hayes worked might and main to make sure a memorandum of understanding was drawn up. The insurance companies came in for the photo call when we launched it in Government Buildings, but then they did not deliver.

The challenges of climate change have been touched on by previous speakers. We need to have joined-up thinking, but we are seeing very little of it. Bord na Móna is talking about harvesting peat from soakage areas until 2030. The turf-burning stations in the midlands are churning out carbon, which means we will be fined in 2020. I am by no means trying to score political points when I mention this issue, which is a sensitive one for the Minister of State. I believe the workers have to be protected and secured. We have to make sure alternative careers are offered to them and their families. We do not want to see a rust belt in the midlands. I want to see viable and sustainable jobs. We have to plan for the harvesting of turf and for the turf stations in the midlands much more quickly than we are doing at present. The co-burning of turf and wood pellets will not work because the emissions will still be too high. I believe the reins are being pulled in on Bord na Móna's madhat scheme, which involves shipping timber pellets across 3,000 sea miles from Georgia in the US to these stations. It is just madness. This timber is being taken from wetlands, which in itself will have an effect on climate change. The challenges are great. The Minister of State has shown that he has the ambition to take them on. I will support him as much as I can. For heaven's sake, a little joined-up thinking in relation to cause and effect should take place when Senators are speaking here over the coming months and years. We cannot continue to think that the destruction of our boglands and forests will not have an effect on climate change, one manifestation of which is the flooding in our towns and villages.