Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 1 Feb 2000

Vol. 513 No. 3

Adjournment Debate. - Flood Relief.

Mr. Noonan

On Christmas Eve, due to very heavy rain and exceptionally high tides – probably unprecedented – and, in the view of the local community, because of works on the River Shannon associated with the Limerick main drainage scheme, a flooding occurred in St. Mary's parish in Corbally, principally at Sir Harry's Mall and Athlunkard Street. Many houses were flooded with water coming in front and back doors, floor coverings were destroyed and ancillary damage was caused to the houses and their furnishings. The flooding was unprecedented in its severity and extent. Areas never flooded before were flooded. There were unprecedented high tides and there was extremely heavy rain. I do not know to what degree the work on the river aggravated the increase in flooding. The bunds placed on the river to allow construction to take place will, when removed, be replaced by a weir. If the bunds caused the flooding the weir will do so also. I would like the Minister to investigate that matter.

I approached this matter by way of written question and received an unsatisfactory reply on 26 January. It was a reply with the level of objectivity which only somebody sitting in the Custom House, 120 miles from the flooding, could have had. The issues raised were not properly addressed. First, I want a commitment from the Minister that the cause of the flooding will be properly examined and established. Second, I want a commitment that the Department of the Environment and Local Government, together with the Office of Public Works, will prescribe the remedial works necessary for Limerick Corporation and that it will provide the corporation with the required funding to ensure this problem is remediated.

According to the city engineer in correspondence with me, a combination of adverse weather conditions will create flooding in a number of different low lying areas in Limerick city without major investment in the provision of new improved quay walls, embankments and drainage systems. If these were put in place it would contribute in a very significant manner to resolving the problems. Limerick Corporation has been in correspondence with the Office of Public Works and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government. I am not quite sure whose writ runs now in circumstances where flooding such as this occurs. I am not sure whether it is the responsibility of the Office of Public Works in their wider remit for arterial drainage or the Department of the Environment and Local Government through the local authorities in their remit for remediating minor waterways and incidences of flooding in towns. Perhaps the Minister of State will clarify that point.

The third point I wish to raise relates to compensation. I raised this issue in my parliamentary question and it was dismissed in the reply in the most cursory fashion as if the idea of compensation for flood damage had never before been raised. There are several precedents. I recall when cottages in Ballsbridge were flooded and compensation was provided. When the river flooded Clonmel, compensation was provided. When Fermoy was flooded some compensation was provided. Compensation was provided after flooding in the rural areas of south-east Galway some years ago. It is not unknown for national schemes to have been introduced to compensate farmers for the loss of fodder in times of severe rain and flooding. There are precedents for compensation payments as a result of flooding.

I do not think a request by people in Limerick whose homes were flooded for the same treatment as has been provided in the past to other communities should be dismissed out of hand in the manner in which it was dismissed by the Minister for the Environment and Local Government in his reply to me on 26 January. Many people who live in areas subject to flooding cannot get insurance cover against flood damage. They can get fire insurance and all sorts of other insurance but flood damage is not covered. I ask the Minister of State, whom I thank for coming here this evening, to have this situation examined again. Limerick Corporation has a full register of the homes damaged by the floods on Christmas Eve. I ask him to approach this matter in an open handed way and if the houses not covered by insurance can be identified by Limerick Corporation – and I am certain they can – that he provide compensation.

Flooding took place over a limited area. We are not talking about millions of pounds, we are not even talking about hundreds of thousands of pounds. We are talking about adequate sums of money so that the superficial damage can be repaired. Many of the people involved are not wealthy.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace)

I thank Deputy Noonan for raising this matter. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, is unable to be in the House to respond and has asked me to do so on his behalf. I would like to express again the Government's sympathy to the people in the various areas affected by the flooding over the Christmas period. Unfortunately, no funds are available to this Department to compensate for damage or loss of property.

As outlined in the reply to Question No. 561 of 26 January, the flooding in Limerick was mainly due to a combination of heavy rainfall and unprecedented high tides. Low atmospheric pressures also played a part. A high tide of 8.6 metres, influenced by westerly winds and heavy rainfall, was recorded at Limerick dock gauge on the evening of 24 December 1999. This was the high est ever tide level recorded for the area. I understand the flooding was at its worst on Christmas Day and St. Stephen's Day and that it persisted to a lesser extent into the new year.

Limerick Corporation engineering staff, fire and sanitary services personnel and the Limerick main drainage contractor were on duty throughout. Such relief measures as were possible, including pumping operations, were carried out by Limerick Corporation. The Army and Civil Defence assisted in protecting property by sand-bagging. Temporary bunds, constructed in connection with the Limerick main drainage scheme, which at one point it was considered might be contributing to slowing the abatement of flood waters in the area adjacent to the Abbey River, were also breached by the contractor at the corporation's request in the hope that it might accelerate a reduction in the level of the floodwaters. It is important, however, to clarify that the bunds were not a contributory factor to the flooding. During the worst two days both bunds on the Abbey River were actually below water level, such was the depth of the flow.

When completed, the Limerick drainage scheme, which is being funded by the Department of the Environment and Local Government with assistance from the EU Cohesion funds, will help remove foul sewage problems associated with flooding throughout the city and will eliminate the potential for surface water overflows at a number of locations. However, I understand that to deal specifically with the flooding issue, Limerick Corporation intends to initiate a detailed study to try to identify a long-term solution to the problem. The corporation has been in contact with the Office of Public Works and it is seeking in conjunction with Office of Public Works to have a report prepared that would allow proposals to be brought forward to reduce the risks of a recurrence. This would require extensive investigation by consultants, including a study of quay walls, road levels, river embankments, storage and monitoring the flow and tide levels in the Shannon. If any proposals should emanate from this study that would be eligible for funding under the Department's water services or roads programmes they will be sympathetically considered. In the meantime a number of short-term preventative measures are being taken, including pumping standby arrangements, discharge controls and facilities to partially remove bunding if necessary.

Under the Arterial Drainage Acts, the Office of Public Works is empowered to undertake drainage schemes in response to flooding from any watercourse for the purpose of preventing or substantially reducing incidences of flooding. Other responsibilities in relation to certain navigable waters rest with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands and Waterways Ireland, the new cross-Border authority. While we will assist in any way we can, it is not a function of the Department of the Environment and Local Government to formulate a response to the problem of flooding. Grants from the Environment and Local Government Vote to local authorities for public water supply and sewerage schemes address flood relief requirements only in the context of measures to relieve overloading of sewerage networks in built-up areas. On a more general level and with an eye to the future, to ensure that flooding risks may be taken into account in the development process, the Planning and Development Bill, 1999, will allow local authorities to make it an objective of development plans to regulate, restrict or control development in areas at risk of flooding, whether inland or coastal.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 2 February 2000.