Last week, through the clerk, I asked the Chairman to convene a meeting as early as possible this week on the recent big freeze and the appalling conditions that householders, commuters and travellers faced over the past fortnight and, in many parts of the country, over the past three weeks. It is mind-boggling that the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport is discussing an important matter today but, in the greater scheme of things, it is much less important than the devastation that occurred in the country since New Year's Eve. It was an incredible couple of weeks in this country from New Year's Day, where no one seemed to be in charge and we had no Government. It makes a strong case that we do not need a Government, at least not one as incompetent as the current Government, given the way local government and people had to try to manage in the days after New Year's Day.
It beggars belief that the emergency response committee did not meet on New Year's Day to examine the situation. Large tracts of the midlands and the west were under many inches of snow and people were completely bogged down and unable to get out of their houses. Senior citizens were trapped for three and four days and were unable to get messages or to carry out their basic business. This was an appalling situation. In urban areas, senior citizens, workers and commuters could not walk outside their houses. Estates were iced over for eight or nine days and no action was taken to alleviate the situation in urban estates.
Most significantly, a whole tranche of major national roads, including areas I visited in Meath, Wicklow and Kildare and roads such as the R410, were virtually impassable. Farming communities were essentially trapped. All the time, we had no Government and we had no Minister for Transport. The Minister for Transport was not there. I said at the weekend that everyone is entitled to a break and that the Minister for Transport, by his own lights, works hard. We had no chief of operations, no directing force and no emergency response committee. People were left to fend for themselves, with some belated help from the 34 local authorities. This is totally unacceptable. Last Thursday, some five or six days into the crisis, the hapless Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley appeared with a bewildered-looking Taoiseach to tell us what was happening.
I have letters from a range of city and county managers. In the meantime, the salt was running out and the grit was running out because 50,000 tonnes had been used. If the weather had gone on this week, the country would have ground to a halt and many roads across counties like Westmeath, Offaly, Leitrim, Sligo, Galway and Clare would be impassable. It would be up to local authorities to decide the roads that were closed and the roads that were passable.
Last Wednesday night, the capital city ground to a halt. I was on the street coming to this House to do business at 1.30 p.m. It became virtually impassable, with buses sliding sideways. For the safety of pedestrians, the bus service had to be cancelled and a capital city was brought to a halt over 24 hours. It was an amazing series of blunders and errors. If this was a small or medium-sized company and the chief operations officer and chief executive did not take charge, we would ask for their resignations.
The Chairman has not held a meeting on this amazing situation even though this is the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport and I believe he should go, as should the Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey. He left this country to its own devices. I accept that he works hard and that everyone in this room, including our own staff, committee staff and journalists, needs a break from time to time. However, he is the line manager, the man in charge, and he should have been here. He should not have left us to our own devices.
The Labour Party set out what it felt should have been done. We wanted a national weather emergency to be declared, with all agencies directed to work for the people to keep society and the economy moving. We wanted the NRA to immediately source relevant salt supplies from whatever source, given that our only salt mine, in Carrickfergus, was running out. We also asked for the Army to be brought in to help local authorities, a suggestion which Fine Gael colleagues made at the same time, for which I commend them.
The 34 local authorities, including four in Dublin, two in County Galway and two in County Tipperary, were left to fend for themselves. Their grants were cut by the Government and they did not even know what their road maintenance grants would be for 2010. Before he left for his break, the Minister for Transport told me he proposed to announce the grants the following week. There had been a ten-day weather forecast and he knew the situation would be incredibly bad but he did not act. He should have immediately told the local authorities to spend what they had to spend to look after the people, to make sure they were fed and watered, could get hold of supplies and travel to work or school. I salute the workers of the 34 local authorities for the efforts they have made, as I do members of the Army, the NRA and other agencies for their tremendous work.
Local authorities were underfunded and under-resourced. In the few days before Christmas nearly every one of them held meetings. My own authority, Fingal County Council, had to come forward with a budget which was slashed by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley. The Minister for Transport was also going to slash its budget. We have had a shambles and it has looked like we have had no Government for the past two or three weeks. The Dáil, the main Chamber of these Houses, should discuss the issue as soon as possible.
We have to get rid of the Government and have a general election. The Chairman of the committee and the Minister for Transport should go and we should start afresh. This is not the first time this has happened because a few months ago we had the flooding disaster when communities all over the country were left in a desperate situation. Farm families were trapped for days, while their livestock was trapped without fodder. Some 15 or 20 years ago Deputy Penrose called for the establishment of a Shannon basin authority which would have had total control——