Vol. 527 No. 3
189 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he has had any discussions, either within his Department or with other Government Departments with a view to determining the extent to which farmland flooding has occurred arising from insufficient drainage; if he will quantify the damage caused in terms of losses arising from such flooding in recent years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28658/00]
190 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development if he will approach other Government Departments with responsibility for the issue of drainage with a view to addressing the serious losses caused by flooding in the past number of years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28659/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 189 and 190 together.
The recent flooding caused localised hardship to many people in both urban and rural areas. My Department's regional inspectors have reported that while many crops suffered from flooding, it is unlikely that lasting damage was done. The harvesting of root crops and the sowing of winter cereals have suffered significant disruption. As it would not have been appropriate to single out any particular section of the community for special attention, the Government initiated an ex-gratia scheme of humanitarian assistance to relieve cases of severe hardship. The Irish Red Cross Society is implementing this scheme, details of which have been published in the national newspapers. The scheme will alleviate the most serious effects of the widespread flooding and has been drawn up following reports from the Minister for the Environment and Local Government and the Office of Public Works.
Following severe flooding in 1994-95 the Government assigned responsibility to the Office of Public Works to devise and implement flood relief measures. Priority areas were identified. I understand that a number of schemes have now been completed while work is ongoing on a number of others.
