Manus Boyle (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. Naturally, I am glad to hear so many counties are being looked after but I did not hear Donegal. I may be being parochial about it, but, as the Minister of State knows, there are many flooding problems in County Donegal. For example, there is Killybegs, Donegal town, Pettigo and up in the north of the county. There are a lot of problems there. In my part of the country there is a lot of coastal erosion and houses are being affected. That is something I have talked about with the Minister of State and it is to be hoped it is something we can work through. In fairness to the Minister of State, he is the first I have seen on television getting his hands dirty. He is the same as myself; I get out and help. On the morning of the Bridge Street floods in Killybegs, that is what I did. I have never seen people's lives turned upside down so quickly. It really was a total decimation for families, when their photographs and everything they had downstairs was ruined because of flooding.

I wonder whether, rather than allowing the flood to happen, something could be put in place for low-lying areas, so they have a pump on standby which the local authorities could have prepared the night before a weather warning. Rather than waiting for a flood to happen, would we not be better off trying to get to these places that are identified as having a problem before it does happen.

In the instance of the Bridge Street floods the river was a problem and I am glad to see it is going to be cleaned. That is what is needed to be done. In fairness to the OPW, it said it would do it and it is going to be done in conjunction with Donegal County Council. We would be better to react quicker, before the flood happens to try to save people's lives. The Minister of State knows this as has been through it. He has seen the turmoil caused by it. If we could do something before a weather warning being issued, we could be out ahead of it and safeguard people's property.