Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for coming to the House to discuss the Government's flood defence plans. Many Senators have first-hand experience of flooding in their local areas and are aware of the impact of flood damage on homeowners, business owners and farmers. I ask the Minister of State to update the House on the defence barriers in County Mayo and on the length of time it is taking the OPW to approve works that need to be done. As I have said previously, these delays are unacceptable. Areas near Westport like Carraholly, Rosmindle and Kilmeena have been waiting since 2014. The damage that was done in such areas during the floods of that year needs to be repaired immediately. It is disgraceful that after four years, approval has not yet been provided.There are two things wrong with that, the length of time and the cost of drawing up plans. All that is required is a simple wall, a flood barrier for the communities. It is wrong that four years later nothing has been done. I accept there have been plans and so forth but the wall is still not in place for the community. It is unacceptable that the OPW and other consultants have failed to engage with or listen to local communities when they have the solutions to many of these problems. It is very difficult for the people in these areas to get excited about €1 billion being allocated in the national development plan when all they want is a simple wall to be built. We are spending millions on consultants without consulting the local communities that are most affected by flooding.

The Minister of State is a practical person and he will understand that when I was working in the local authority, it was distressing to see people being moved out of their homes or not feeling safe in them. It comes down to the fact that people have a right and a need to feel safe in their homes. There are many homes throughout the country and certainly many in Mayo that I have visited where people do not feel safe. This affects areas such as in Doohoma, Ballycroy, Ballina and Crossmolina to name but a few. There has to be a better congruence between the Department, the local authorities and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. For farmers, the main factor for productivity is the land. There has been flood after flood. It is hugely important that we consider the future and that we plan and make the relevant commitments in capital investment. We have seen many areas flooded due to coastal flooding or river flooding, but those areas are still left without protection.

Business owners, and the generations before them, who have spent their lives building up their businesses live in fear that everything will be taken from them. The Minister of State probably was in Crossmolina and saw the businesses that were ruined overnight. The owners have had to try to build the businesses up again to make a living, but they have not been able to do it without the proper protections being in place. There is also the damage to roads. The roads budget in Mayo has been cut by 40% over recent years. People see banner headlines about the allocations being made, yet they must travel on roads that have been damaged by flooding. Somebody referred earlier to drainage. It has been hugely neglected in these areas and often only simple solutions are required. We make matters far more complicated when consultants do not consult the local communities and when we do not keep up with general repairs and the general drainage works that must be done.

The Minister of State said there were big improvements with the minor works scheme and that the criteria to allow local authorities to come back in where schemes have failed in the past have changed. He also said it is now easier for them to get more funding to deal with minor works schemes. I ask the Minister of State to elaborate on this, especially in light of the cases I mentioned in Mayo. The Minister of State regularly refers to the flood prevention works being carried out, but for many businesses and families that is irrelevant if the insurers will not offer insurance at a reasonable price in those areas. I have some sympathy for the Minister of State because the Irish insurance industry is an absolute disgrace. It is a disgrace in respect of motor insurance as well as other insurance. It is grasping for any excuse not to do its job. It is willing to offer insurance and it wants people to pay for insurance, but only on the basis that they will never need it. Consumers are paying the price of the recklessness of that industry over the past decade or so. Will the Minister of State intercede with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide a money message to the Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill, which Sinn Féin has before the Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, that would greatly empower consumers against the insurers and their nonsense?

Climate change is the elephant in the room. We can plan for and predict what the climate will be like, but we are entering a period where it appears that it will be more unpredictable and extreme. We must have the maximum level of preparation not just to fix the problems we have now but also for the predictions for the future. Common sense must be brought to the issue of flooding and there must be an urgency about it. The Minister of State's main job is to direct the money to freeing the blockages that will get the walls in Kilmeena and elsewhere built. It is unacceptable that four years later people still feel unsafe in their homes and on their land in these areas.