Thank you for making time available to me to raise this matter. Although I am appealing to the Government to provide compensation and moneys to Donegal County Council to repair roads and bridges and to help homesteaders and business people to pay flood damage costs, I feel obliged to put on record our very deep concern at the flooding in Strabane across the bridge from Lifford, County Donegal, where the town has been almost devastated. I know that all Members of the House will join me in extending our deep concern to those people who have been so grievously inconvenienced. They have lived through a nightmare and we wish them well.
The difference between what has happened in Strabane and County Donegal is that in County Donegal the damage stretches over the whole county. It is, therefore, not so apparent and does not make the news headlines. Nevertheless, the damage in Donegal is quite substantial. People have been on the telephone to me all day asking what can be done. Bridges have been washed away and access roads, which were already in bad condition, have been destroyed. Homes have been flooded and the contents of business houses have been damaged. I appeal to the Minister of State to ask the Government to make moneys available.
I should like to express my appreciation for the services rendered by the fire brigade, civil defence crews, workers of Donegal County Council and the good people who helped their neighbours in distress. Roads are so bad in some areas that cars could not proceed any further. Farmers are faced with the difficulty of crops being flooded, especially potato fields, as many are covered in water. Many of these householders are quite unable to meet the cost of the damage from their own finances as they are old age pensioners living alone on fixed incomes. We must have a compassionate approach to this problem. Business people whose properties and stock have been damaged should also receive sympathetic consideration.
The biggest problem will be the repair of roads and bridges. In Carndonagh a bridge has been washed away which means that the waterpipe serving the area has broken in two with the result that there is no water supply. The bridge also carried the sewer pipe and sewage is now being discharged into the river. People cannot get to the public dump because they had to cross the bridge to do so. That is an immediate problem which must be dealt with urgently. I understand that a number of other bridges are in dangerous condition and all of them that are suspect will have to be examined as a matter of urgency. The Government should send the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and senior civil servants to Donegal immediately to establish the extent of the damage. There is no doubt that it will run into figures far beyond the ability of Donegal County Council to meet and, therefore, the Government must help.
The Inishowen Peninsula seems to be the place most badly hit. Clonmany, Carndonagh, Buncrana and Moville where roads in outlying areas have been almost washed away, are very badly hit. Will the Minister give urgent consideration to providing funds for the county council to meet the immediate needs of the community? The roads in the county were not good to start with and now they are impassable. Many people cannot get to the main roads because of the condition of access roads.
This is not a time for abusing anyone. The rainfall was an act of God and I know that the Members on the other side of the House will be as sympathetic to this matter as I would like them to be. Perhaps Deputy Conaghan would like to avail himself of the few minutes I have left to put his case.
