Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for allowing me to raise this matter and the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, Deputy Brian Hayes, for coming into the House to respond to it.

I refer to the flooding in Drumconrath, County Meath, on the night of the large floods on the east coast on 24 October, of which I know the Minister is aware. There was a huge flood in the centre of the village in which a flood had not occurred in decades. A number of houses were completely destroyed and it was heart-rending to visit them, as people could no longer live in them. With all the publicity in Dublin, there was very little coverage of the hardship suffered by some of the families affected in the village of Drumconrath. Some of the houses have been in their ownership for hundreds of years.

The Drumconrath area is covered by the OPW under the arterial drainage Acts. Some works were undertaken subsequent to the floods in 2008. The question arises as to whether the works which alleviated the problem in part of the village contributed to flooding in the other part of the village last month. Reports are due on the matter. I raise the issue in the Seanad to highlight its urgency and the severe trauma that has affected those who have had to move out of their homes. I highlight the lack of the knowledge in the village of what is going on. I also wish to exert as much gentle pressure as possible on the Minister of State to treat the matter with the utmost urgency and to get the reports I believe he is expecting and ensure funding is provided as soon as possible to have the work done. This is an opportunity to raise the issue to show how important it is.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to address this issue in the House; it is one for which I have responsibility, unlike the others to which I have responded.

I am well aware of the hardship endured by the residents of Drumconrath on 24 October and the losses suffered as a result of the flooding of four houses and a community centre in the village. I take the opportunity to express my personal sympathy to and show concern for the victims of the flooding. As the Senator Byrne said, it is very stressful to have one's home flooded and belongings destroyed. In the few opportunities I have had to visit other victims of flooding throughout the country, it is evident that enormous psychological damage is done to people when their homes are devastated by such an event. As an organisation, the Office of Public Works appreciates that part of our response is making sure we give people the defences and support they need in recognising the damage done to communities and individual residents.

I acknowledge the tremendous work undertaken locally by the emergency services during the flood event in providing assistance for residents. Two units of the fire brigade and staff from the road maintenance section of the local authority attended until the early hours of the morning. The road maintenance crews provided and filled sandbags and supported the emergency services. Since the flood event, the local area engineer in Meath County Council has met local residents, while a senior engineer has also engaged with them.

Drumconrath was severely affected by the extreme weather event which affected the east coast on Monday, 24 October. To put the event in its historical perspective, 82.2 mm of rainfall was recorded at Casement Aerodrome, the highest daily rainfall recorded for October since records began there in 1954. The Burley Bridge hydrometric gauge on the River Dee, approximately 4 km from Drumconrath, recorded a water level of 3.33 m, the fourth highest level recorded since 1975.

Initial inspections suggest the flooding occurred when the flow in the channel exceeded the conveyance capacity of the channel under the bridge. That is typical of many other cases along the east coast on that evening; that the channel was not big enough, wide enough or deep enough in some cases to withstand the surge of water. The surcharged water flow at this point resulted in the flooding of the houses upstream of the bridge. The surcharged water flow continued across the R165, flooding the community hall, as the Senator is aware. The depth of flooding in the properties was approximately 0.5 m. The flood waters had receded by the next morning.

The river that flooded is a tributary of the River Dee which is part of the Glyde and Dee catchment drainage scheme which was completed by the OPW in 1957. The Office Of Public Works programmes maintenance as required for this scheme and maintenance was last carried out on the river in 2009.

On addressing the immediate flooding issues in Drumconrath, the Office of Public Works will undertake a detailed survey of the area and design remedial works to the channel. Any works will take account of cost/benefit and environmental issues. The works may be carried out either directly by the OPW or by the council under the minor flood mitigation works scheme. It is envisaged that the survey will be carried out in early 2012.

I give that commitment to the Senator. We will complete that survey early next year so that we can set about correcting the problems that emerge, if they are specific to the OPW. There may be other issues which Meath County Council may wish to advance to the OPW by way of a minor works scheme. We would have no difficulty in processing those requirements as soon as possible. As the Senator knows, under the minor works scheme we deal with this issue on a 24/7 basis. The more proposals that come from Meath County Council the quicker we can turn them around.

As a response to the flood events of 24 October, the Government recently set up a humanitarian assistance scheme for which €10 million has been allocated to provide means tested financial support to people who have suffered damage to their homes as a result of the recent flooding which is not covered by insurance. The scheme is administered on the ground by staff from the Department of Social Protection and will provides hardship alleviation assistance, as opposed to full compensation, to householders affected by the flooding. Applications will be prioritised and the most urgent cases will be dealt with quickly. I am not sure this is relevant to the case of Drumconrath. It depends on whether people had insurance. However, it is another avenue of support open to people who have no insurance. I assure the Senator and the residents of Drumconrath of the OPW's commitment to resolving the issues affecting Drumconrath to avoid a repeat of the flooding which occurred.

As the Senator rightly pointed out, the key issue is to get the review done as soon as possible and to carry out the works. We have the funds and the support to do that, once the review is done, as well as any ancillary works Meath County Council want the OPW to do.

Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and for his understanding of the issues. The Office of Public Works in an interesting office and deals with very difficult situations.

The Minister of State mentioned the community centre. I thank Fr. Connaughton, from the parish of Drumconrath and Meath Hill, for his leadership on this issue. He has much work to do in the community centre.

The Minister of State mentioned the hardship scheme provided by the Department of Social Protection. This may or may not apply to the residents of Drumconrath. It is interesting and concerning that when I raised this with the residents at a meeting last Friday night, which was some time after the flooding, none of them was aware of the full details of the scheme and none had been contacted by a community welfare officer, which I understood was the Department's policy. They may or may not qualify for the scheme. I do not know their individual circumstances. Perhaps some further work could be done on that matter if there are people who may need to avail of the scheme but are not fully aware of it. The people I spoke to knew about the scheme but they certainly had not been contacted by anyone from the Department of Social Protection.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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My understanding is that support is there for people in the first instance if it is needed for specific issues. In my constituency I know of cases where specific equipment was needed quickly and the relieving officers were able to provide it quickly. The humanitarian assistance scheme is intended for people who have no insurance, or did not pay their insurance premiums. My understanding is that the Department of Social Protection will progress those applications as soon as possible, on a means tested basis. We would encourage people, in the first instance to go to their insurers and draw down funds, given that they have been paying premiums for years.