Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also congratulate the Minister of State on his position, which nobody deserves more. I know what he did for his town of Athlone when it came to flooding. I saw him in many a river pulling out who-knows-what. He certainly got stuck in.

An unfortunate statement was made about our nation to the effect that if we put all of the Dutch people into Ireland it would become the garden of Europe but if we put all of the Irish people into the Netherlands, it would sink. It is sad that our current Government seems to be making this come true. In recent years many of our communities have been hit by spates of flooding and many in these Houses will take the opportunity to place the blame on climate change. While there is some merit to this, the hard fact is that when one looks beneath the surface, many of these floods are man-made, but in a totally different way. They are man-made not as a consequence of too many people driving their cars to work or taking cheap flights to the Balearic islands but of inaction, negligence and over-regulation. Towns, fields and homes are being flooded because levees have not been built, ditches have not been drained, retention basins have not been dug and rivers have been left undredged. This inefficiency and inaction is compounded by over-regulation by environmentalists. This over-regulation is by those who blame all of these floods on climate change and who propose to solve the problem with even more regulation.

Recently The Irish Times reported that the ongoing flooding problems in Lough Funshinagh in County Roscommon have been relieved by the installation of pumps. However, before the flooding, the OPW and the local council had attempted to install pumps but this attempt was struck down by a High Court challenge on the basis of the habitats directive, the birds directive and the environmental impact assessment directive among others. As a consequence, 700 acres have been damaged. The decision was also based on the fact that the lake had protected status as a turlough, a naturally draining lake which disappears and reappears with the weather and the seasons. However, locals say that the lough had not been draining since 1996. The environmental regulations failed to keep pace with the changed environment.

Recently in the wake of Storm Éowyn we were treated to a spate of stories, particularly in Cork, about a number of towns that were severely flooded as the dredging of local rivers was prevented by biodiversity regulations. Farmers hesitated to clear drainage systems for fear of violating Byzantine environmental rules. We have serious inefficiency problems with public infrastructure - let us not forget the OPW and its bike shed - but over-regulation is making this inefficiency fatal. There is no reason for things to be like this. We are a great people, fully capable of creating brilliant and ambitious infrastructure projects, changing the landscape around us. Irish people built the canals of England and the railroads of America. It is time we began to manage and transform our own landscape at home. When our State was just emerging from the Civil War, we were able to complete the Ardnacrusha dam and power station, one of the greatest infrastructure projects and one of the greatest green energy achievements in natural history. Would Ardnacrusha be built today? It is doubtful. It is most likely that its construction would be infinitely delayed and ultimately prevented because of some rare species of worm in the Shannon riverbed.

This brings me to the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. While it is succeeding in frustrating real flood prevention, the EPA has also failed to prevent the pollution of our rivers, which are the lifeblood of our countryside. According to its own reports, nearly one fifth of monitored river water bodies are in poor or bad status and are severely polluted. This is unacceptable. Our rivers have been choked with pollutants from agriculture, urban wastewater and other sources and the EPA has not done enough to address the crisis. Before we start seriously engaging in real flood prevention, we need to take a look at one kind of construction that mysteriously does not seem to be prevented in flood affected areas, namely the construction of residential property. We cannot seem to dredge rivers or build levees in flood zones but somehow we have little issue with building housing estates on them.One effective measure would be the creation of buffer zones around flood risk areas. These zones would prevent the construction of domestic properties in high-risk areas, reducing the potential for damage and loss of life. Buffer zones can also help absorb excess water during heavy rainfall, reducing the severity of floods. Furthermore, the office of the OPW must share its flood risk data publicly. Transparency is crucial for effective flood management. By making the data publicly accessible, we can ensure communities are better prepared and that flood prevention measures are based on the most accurate and up-to-date information. We must hold the EPA accountable for its failures in water quality, while we roll back more obstructive regulations to build for effective flood management infrastructure. By creating buffer zones and ensuring transparency of flood risk data, we can protect our communities and our environment.

Another issue the Minister of State is in charge of when a flood does happen is the humanitarian assistance scheme. Greater awareness of this assistance scheme is needed among the public. There should also be quicker payouts. The insurance companies need to be tackled when it comes to homes affected by floods. It does not matter whether it is a man-made flood or a flood caused by Uisce Éireann, the insurance companies are the ones that have to pay out.

The OPW minor flood mitigation works and the coastal protection scheme that allows local authorities to draw down €750,000 have not been increased since 2020. The Minister of State might look to increase that. There are 17 counties in Ireland with coastlines. There is an untapped resource of EU funding there. We seem to not be able to draw down enough EU funding for our coastal erosion. That is something the local authorities should be tapping into. Let us not be remembered as a generation that let our country sink but as the one that kept the nation afloat. I thank the Minister of State and wish him good luck in the role.