Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Sep 2017

Vol. 959 No. 3

Flooding in County Donegal: Motion [Private Members]

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

I move:

“That Dáil Éireann:

notes:

— the devastating flooding that affected homes, businesses and farmsteads across County Donegal in August 2017;

— that the damage inflicted by the floods on local roads is estimated at €15.3 million;

— the challenges of climate change and increasingly volatile weather patterns; and

— the planned €430 million, six year programme of capital investment in flood defence measures as part of the Government’s overall Capital Investment Plan 2016–2021;

acknowledges the hard work of local authority staff, volunteers, Defence Forces personnel and emergency services in assisting those affected by the floods;

criticises:

— the delays in the roll out of humanitarian assistance to affected households;

— the one week delay in announcing funding for a Red Cross administered humanitarian fund to help small local businesses, sports clubs and voluntary community groups with application forms not available until ten days after the flooding;

— the failure to confirm a fund to assist the repair of damage to farms until two weeks after the flooding, with application forms not made available until three weeks after the event;

— the exclusion of farmers who have lost grain crops, potato crops and unharvested silage, and damage to agricultural roads from funding;

— the failure to commit to separate funding for sports organisations who experienced significant damage in excess of the €20,000 cap covered by the Red Cross fund;

— the failure to commit to funding for repair and restoration of public amenities such as Swan Park in Buncrana;

— the on-going underspend in flood defence schemes as part of capital expenditure plans;

— the Government decision not to include any provision in Ireland’s Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014–2020 to compensate farmers for losses caused by adverse weather; and

— the continued delays and denials of insurance for homeowners and businesses across the country due to flooding concerns; and

calls on the Government to:

— ensure households and businesses are given adequate flood insurance, in particular for those in areas where the Office of Public Works has invested in standard 1 in 100 year flood defence structures, and facilitate the passage of Fianna Fáil legislation on this specific matter;

— address capital underspend in the roll out of investment in flood defences and increase spending in the road infrastructure;

— amend the RDP to encompass specific provisions on supporting farmers affected by adverse weather conditions;

— expand the terms of the funding support scheme for the farming community in County Donegal to include farmers who have lost grain crops, potato crops and unharvested silage, and damage to agricultural roads;

— provide ring-fenced funding to restore sporting facilities and public amenities destroyed in the County Donegal flooding and not covered by the Red Cross fund;

— ensure that steps are taken so that delays experienced in the establishment of funding support schemes in County Donegal are not repeated in future flooding events; and

— fully and expeditiously implement Government commitments to alleviate financial burdens on households, sporting facilities, farmsteads, businesses and infrastructure in County Donegal through the humanitarian assistance fund and specific agricultural supports.”

I thank my party colleagues for agreeing to select this motion on flooding in County Donegal and the lessons to be learned nationally. I hope that following the debate, colleagues across the Dáil will be in a position to support it to ensure it is passed through the House and acted on by the Government.

I wish to outline my reasons for tabling tonight's motion. It is primarily to ensure that a number of people who are currently excluded from funding support to deal with the aftermath of the funding can be included in the funding schemes. It is also to ensure that some of the delays in rolling out those schemes in response to the flooding in Inishowen are not repeated in the future and that lessons can be learned from that.

Our thoughts continue to be with those who were affected by the flooding which happened this day five weeks ago on 22 August. It primarily affected the Inishowen Peninsula. Although it was a significant event in other parts of the county and other parts of the country, Met Éireann recorded 8 cm of rainfall over a 24-hour period, the vast majority of that in a three to four-hour period in the Inishowen Peninsula. Also badly affected were the neighbouring counties of Derry and Tyrone. From a Republic of Ireland perspective, it particularly affected Inishowen.

On that night many home owners had their homes flooded by water, their possessions destroyed and their homes terribly damaged. Businesses were likewise flooded with their contents destroyed and people's livelihoods put under threat. Likewise many sporting and other voluntary community organisations also suffered significant damage. Many in the farming community experienced loss of stock, and damage to land, farm equipment and crops.

The level of damage was highlighted by a survey carried out by Donegal County Council which showed that over 100 bridges were either washed away or significantly damaged. In total, between bridges and roads over 600 points of damage need to be remedied. There was tremendous destruction in a relatively small part of the country. The bill for infrastructure and the roads is estimated at €15 million according to the survey carried out by Donegal County Council.

In response to that unprecedented flooding, I acknowledge the tremendous effort by members of local communities who had to get out there, roll up their sleeves and come to the aid of their neighbours. With the unprecedented level of the destruction and many different flashpoints, local communities and neighbours really came to the aid of those in distress. I also acknowledge the tremendous work by the emergency services on the night, including the fire brigade, Coast Guard and Donegal County Council staff, in responding to the situation they found. We are thankful that no lives were lost or injuries experienced as a result of the many dangerous situations that unfolded following the tremendous rainfall.

I acknowledge the tremendous work in the aftermath of the flooding in the days that followed by county council workers in trying to get roads and bridges reopened. They really answered the call of duty in a tremendous way. Tremendous work was done to get the peninsula moving and get routes reopened as quickly as possible. I also acknowledge the contribution of the Army in the days that followed and the emergency services on a continuing basis. I also acknowledge the water staff in Donegal County Council and also the members of the local community who fundraised and set up depots for furniture and for equipment to assist home owners.

I also acknowledge the work of the Irish Red Cross in administering the fund that was established and also the social welfare staff for their work in dealing with those who found themselves out of a home. I also acknowledge the many political representatives from Government and from all parties who came to the peninsula, including Deputy Eugene Murphy along with our party leader, the Taoiseach, various Ministers and representatives from other parties who came to view the damage in the days that followed. I acknowledge the commitments made regarding funding and I stress the importance of those being continued and followed through.

We need to learn lessons from the experience of how the event was handled. The motion focuses on two aspects, one relating to the speed with which the various funding assistances and schemes were rolled out and the unnecessary delays that were experienced with them. We need to learn from that and address those issues. The other key aspect of our motion, which I hope will be passed, deals with those people who were excluded from those schemes and calls on the Government to follow through and actually provide funding to those people.

There was a two-day delay in getting the humanitarian assistance fund to support home owners who lost their homes up and running. In future it is crucial that such a fund is in place and ready to be rolled out immediately. When the flood descends and people find themselves without their homes it is crucial that the structures are in place to allow them to get immediate assistance. There was a two-day delay, which is significant when people lose their homes.

The fund administered by the Irish Red Cross, which has a cap of €20,000, was in place to provide financial assistance to sporting organisations, voluntary bodies and businesses. It took a week before the Government confirmed that that fund would be put in place.

It was a further three days after that - a full ten days after the flooding happened - before application forms were available to businesses, sporting organisations and community groups to apply for the funding. The fund provides for an immediate allocation of up to €5,000 for those affected and on further application up to €20,000. However, it was a week before it was announced that a fund of €2 million would be provided, and it was a further two to three days before application forms were available.

One business in particular comes to mind among many that were affected. It was a carpeting and flooring business in Burnfoot which was flooded on the night in question. That is the type of business one would usually expect to benefit from such a situation as people would need to renovate their homes as a result of flood damage, yet the business in question lost all its stock in the flooding and it did not have insurance because of its proximity to the river going through the town. It was ten days before an application form was available to apply for support to restock. Other businesses and sporting organisations had similar experiences.

The motion calls for a funding commitment from the Government to assist sporting organisations that suffered significant damage over and above what can be covered by the Red Cross fund which has a cap of €20,000. Cockhill Celtic soccer club in Buncrana lost two soccer pitches. The pitches were completely wiped out and will have to be relaid. The projected cost is more than €100,000 and we still do not have a funding commitment to support the club five weeks after the flooding incident.

The other key sector which was affected is the agriculture sector. It was two weeks before it was announced that support would be available and it took three weeks for the Government to make application forms available for the relevant fund. The closing date for applications by the farming community is this weekend. It is estimated that up to 300 farms experienced significant damage but they still have not received funding. The motion calls for the terms of reference of the agricultural support scheme to be extended to include certain sections of the farming community that are excluded. I refer, for example, to those who lost grain crops, potato crops or second-cut silage as a result of the flooding. In addition, there was damage to farm roads. One farmer, for example, lost more than 40 acres of barley, yet is entirely excluded from the scheme.

I hope that over the course of this two-hour debate those issues will be properly teased out, lessons will be learned, this motion will be passed and we will see the Government follow through in terms of extending the various funding schemes I have outlined to ensure that nobody is left behind and that in their time of need the political system will ensure all those affected get the assistance required to get back on their feet and get back to normal life.

Deputy Eugene Murphy

Like Deputy McConalogue, I appreciate the fact that we are having this debate this evening and thank him for all the work he has done in this regard. As Deputy McConalogue said, I visited Donegal with the party leader and I never saw such devastation and appalling damage in my life. I heard Deputy McConalogue, the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, and others speak on the radio about how bad things were and how badly people were affected. I also heard the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, speak about the flooding but it is only when one goes to the Inishowen Peninsula and one sees the utter devastation that one realises the extent of the damage. Irrespective of how good the defences were it was impossible to prevent the damage taking place.

As Deputy McConalogue said, it was amazing to see the attitude of the community. I heard much praise for the emergency services and the way people worked. Deputy McConalogue and the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, know very well how people worked to get others out of very difficult situations. Looking at the devastation and the levels to which the floods reached I believe the unique response resulted in lives being saved. There is no doubt about that. When Deputy McConalogue showed us the devastation on the Inishowen Peninsula we could not imagine how lives had not been lost. A major tribute is due to all the people there who were involved in the response.

The flooding in Inishowen opens a bigger debate. All of us in this House will have to realise that there are massive changes occurring that are affecting the climate. Time and again in recent years we have witnessed flash flooding and torrential rain. I looked up some statistics recently and it is not the case that there is a significant increase in the overall levels of rainfall but it is the pattern of the rainfall that is causing the devastation. I mentioned two figures to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, previously. In Roscommon in one evening in June 2016 a total of 74% of the average rainfall for June fell in three hours. A similar situation arose in Donegal recently in the space of two hours. I believe 60% of the average rainfall for the month of August fell. That clearly indicates we are dealing with a different situation and we will all have to assess how we respond to it, regardless of the side of the House we are on. We will have to work together.

When we look across the Atlantic we see the absolute terror and disaster that struck some of the islands. God forbid that it would come to this country. We have the wild Atlantic at our back door. For an island country on the periphery of Europe we do not in any way have adequate defences. While everyone is trying to do his or her best it will take more of an effort and require more money. A total of €480 million has been allocated over a five-year period but that will have to be increased. Even allowing for the type of storm that occurred in Donegal, one point was made to me time and again there, namely, the lack of maintenance. That is an issue all over the country. Last December the Government launched a plan to dredge the Shannon. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, has spoken about the project in Banagher and some work has been carried out. However, we have lost almost one year and none of the work has been done. An arrangement was made with Bord na Móna on the River Shannon to remove silt and peat from the river but that has not been done either. We will have to carry out improvements and ensure regular maintenance is carried out throughout the country. I have no doubt we will face major problems in the coming years and we will have to be prepared for them. Engineers Ireland stated that our flood defences are below standard. It was said that we do not have proper flood defences and that our infrastructure lags behind. We must remember that we are an island country on the periphery of Europe and we are open to irregular weather patterns, which are becoming more challenging. We will all have to up the ante and do much more.

We must also tackle the insurance industry and make sure people are not discriminated against and that insurance companies do not cherry-pick people in these difficult situations. I will hand over to my colleague, Deputy Anne Rabbitte.

Deputy Anne Rabbitte

I thank Deputy McConalogue for introducing the motion this evening and I welcome the opportunity to speak on it. This is not the first time I have spoken about flooding in this House for the simple reason that I come from south Galway and represent the people of east Galway where in 2015 flooding played a significant part in our lives when Storm Desmond arrived. We experienced the effects of flooding from Christmas 2015 until the middle of the following February.

As colleagues said previously, we cannot control the climate but we can control the template of how we respond to flood events. I listened to references in the debate to humanitarian aid and the Red Cross. That same template is what we needed in south Galway in 2015 as we experienced the same delays that Deputy McConalogue and his colleagues are experiencing in Donegal at the moment. What people need when devastation knocks on their door is to know there are avenues of support they can access. We need to look at how we will put this template in place, be it for families, businesses and county councils. People need to know that there is a contingency plan in place on a statutory footing for each council area so that a certain amount of funding is available depending on the trail of destruction.

There should be a basic minimum available so that when families need the support it is there, be it the €600 from the Red Cross or whatever is needed to keep the farms ticking over. In our case in south Galway, the helicopters had to come in. We had 60 cattle marooned. People did not know for weeks on end how long it would take to get their funding. Initially they thought their funding was the same as everybody else's and they were going to get €600 from the Department of Social Protection. Everybody plays their role - the Government, county councils, the ambulances, the helicopters - everybody helps out. In these crises, people need to know if there is funding available and where they should turn. It is as much as a support for the public representatives on the ground and those working in Departments. We must know that it is there and on a statutory footing so we are not wondering what we are going to get. It was a huge help to us in south Galway at the time of the flooding that there was funding put aside for our road infrastructure. A lot of our roads and bridges had to be completely redone. It was really well done. We had to beg for that sort of money, however, although it did become available. There should be contingency funding laid aside for the likes of these occasions.

In south Galway at this moment, the Shannon is 13 inches higher than this time last year. We are all aware of that. We do not need much rain this year to push it over the edge. Nor do we need much rain to find ourselves back where we were in 2015. None of us want to be there. One thing is for certain - if we do need the funding and if people find themselves in crisis, we need to know these mechanisms are in place. There are great works taking place in south Galway. It is a huge amount of work. The engineers are two months out from going to contracts, tenders and everything else. It is progressing. At the same time, we will not have a digger in south Galway until 2020. We need to have a comfort in place for those families to know that there will be funding available. We need to know that the mechanism and the template are in place. It is within the gift of the Ministers of State opposite to bring forward the resolutions to these problems. We can find the solution. This time the response was way quicker than we had in south Galway. Why not put the template in place? That is the message of Deputy McConalogue's motion. If we put it on a statutory footing, we will relieve the pressures on people when they are hit with a crisis in respect of an act of God.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government (Deputy Damien English)

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

"notes:

— that a pluvial rainfall event on the evening of 22nd August, 2017, gave rise to sudden and devastating flooding which affected the north-west, and in particular the Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal where homes, businesses, farms, community facilities and infrastructure were badly damaged;

— the immediate and effective response of the emergency services in the areas affected, with their initial focus on rescues and protecting lives of those threatened by the flash flooding which occurred;

— the immediate and effective response led by Donegal County Council, the designated lead agency for responding to flooding events, working with the other principal response agencies, in accordance with pre-established emergency management procedures, during the flooding and in its immediate aftermath to safeguard and facilitate persons in the area affected and to enable communities to continue to function;

— the effective clean-up and roads restoration/diversion operations mounted in the aftermath of the event by Donegal County Council in co-ordination with the communities affected, and assisted by the Defence Forces, voluntary groups and local organisations, and that the elected members oversaw the response, clean-up and recovery operations of Donegal County Council;

— that a range of humanitarian support schemes, including the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for householders, the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Animal Welfare Helpline and Emergency Feed Provision, were activated and that local officials of the relevant organisations have worked in close co-ordination with Donegal County Council to assist those impacted by the flooding and, as demand-led schemes, are fully underwritten by Government commitment;

— that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is liaising with a number of sporting clubs in the area impacted by the flooding but whose damage is deemed to be outside the terms of the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme;

— that the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection activated its standing scheme for emergency humanitarian assistance on Thursday morning, 24th August, 2017, and that the Department’s representatives were on the ground from 23rd August, 2017, working with Donegal County Council to identify and make contact with those affected;

— that on 6th September, 2017, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine announced a measure to support the small number of farmers who bore the brunt of the severe flooding experienced in the Inishowen area; support will be provided to those who experienced losses of livestock, the loss of conserved fodder (hay or silage) and as a contribution towards the clean-up cost of agricultural lands, including repair to fences, damaged by debris washed up by the floods;

— that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine commenced payments to farmers under the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme from last week and that it has secured permission from the European Commission to make an advance payment of 70 per cent of the Basic Payment Scheme from 16th October, 2017;

— that discussions on risk mitigation measures in the agriculture sector are expected to form part of deliberations at European Union level on the next Rural Development Programme;

— that the application forms for the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies were available on their website on 30th August, 2017;

— that the Irish Red Cross Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies relies on receiving damage assessments from business owners and that a period of time is required following the flooding event to allow for an initial appraisal of the extent of the damage to businesses to take place;

— the Government commitment to support both those affected and the public authorities who have been working in the recovery phase, and that Donegal County Council are still working to complete an estimate of the clean-up costs and the damage caused by the flooding to roads infrastructure at more than 630 sites, and that, given the exceptional nature of the response activities carried out by Donegal County Council, and the fact that the costs of these activities could not be met from within existing resources, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is making support available to assist the Council in meeting the costs of the response, clean-up and necessary immediate works related to the flooding and that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the Office of Public Works (OPW) are also liaising with Donegal County Council about works in their areas of competence;

— that Donegal County Council, as the lead agency for recovery, continues to manage and co-ordinate damage assessments and that consideration of further response and remediation options is still ongoing;

— that flooding events can result from tidal, fluvial, pluvial or groundwater conditions (or combinations of these) and that the flooding event in County Donegal was as a result of an extreme pluvial event of a type which could affect any part of the country and for which it is not possible to accurately provide specific forecasts (location and timing) with any appreciable lead-time;

— the appropriateness and effectiveness of the local emergency management system in place, derived from the ‘Framework for Major Emergency Management’, with the relevant local authority acting as ‘lead agency’ to both deliver immediate response, clean-up and recovery operations, with local political accountability, and to co-ordinate the principal response agencies, the Defence Forces and the voluntary and community sector in responding to emergencies of all kinds in their areas;

— that, in its role as lead Government Department, in accordance with ‘Strategic Emergency Management, A National Framework and Structures’ the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government’s National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management liaised closely, appropriately and effectively with Donegal County Council from the morning of 23 August, 2017, co-ordinated national level support for Donegal County Council and dealt with emerging issues for those impacted by the flooding, and that, in line with best practice in the aftermath of events of this kind, a review of the County Donegal experience is being carried out as part of the programme of ongoing development of emergency management capability within the local government sector;

— that the OPW has completed 39 major flood defence schemes since 1995 that are providing protection to approximately 8,000 properties with an estimated benefit to the country of damage avoided of over €1 billion; that construction continues on 10 major flood defence schemes and design and development for a further 25 is underway that will provide protection to 12,000 properties when all are completed; that up to seven major schemes are currently anticipated to commence in the next 12 months; and that a further investment of €33 million in minor works since 2009 is protecting 6,000 properties across the country;

— the OPW’s proactive flood risk planning, through the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme in the past number of years is nearing completion following review and assessment of the extensive response to the public consultation on the draft Flood Risk Management Plans which provided constructive and wide-ranging observations and comments, and by the end of this year the final Flood Risk Management Plans will be published setting out the proposed structural measures to be advanced through to detailed design to protect at risk communities and properties and the Government’s commitment to more than double the annual allocation for flood defence schemes in the next five years from €45 million to €100 million to deliver the existing and proposed pipeline of projects;

— the publication of the Interim Report of the Interdepartmental Flood Policy Co-ordination Group in 2016, recommending policies and measures to Government that would reduce the impact of flood risks on individuals and communities, dealing with a range of issues including a voluntary homeowners relocation scheme and that Dutch experts ‘have benchmarked (Ireland’s) approach to flood risk management and concluded that Ireland is in line with international best practice and is well on track’;

— the Government strategy for improving the availability of flood insurance cover includes prioritising spending on flood relief measures by the OPW and relevant local authorities, and improving channels of communication between the OPW and the insurance industry in order to reach a better understanding about the provision of flood cover in protected areas, complemented as necessary by targeted State emergency humanitarian assistance after flood events and that the success of this approach is evidenced by the increase in the availability of flood insurance in areas where flood defences have been installed, both fixed and demountable, with recent survey results showing that overall, 83 per cent of property insurance policies in protected areas include cover against flood risk and where the defences are permanent in nature it is 90 per cent; and

— that the OPW maintains Arterial Drainage schemes completed since 1945 on in excess of 11,500 kilometres of channels which benefits approximately 650,000 acres (265,400 hectares) of land, that the maintenance of Drainage Districts is the responsibility of local authorities and that, while maintenance of rivers and other watercourses has some benefit to prevent the deterioration of channel conveyance capacity, river maintenance would have had no beneficial effect on the extreme flooding event experienced in County Donegal."

I thank the Deputies for proposing the motion. It addresses an area which is of particular interest to me and my colleagues in government. That is why I have the Ministers of State, Deputies McHugh and Moran, beside me. It is an area that affects all of government and our approach to scenarios like this is an all-of-government and all-agency approach. That is how we try to handle things. This is an issue which is devastating for those unfortunate enough to be caught by the forces which nature can unleash, as it did in Donegal last month. It is nature and we are trying to handle and deal with it although we cannot always predict it. We do our best to react as quickly as we can.

I would like to place on the record of the House our concern for all those who were affected by the devastating flooding which took place on the evening of 22 August 2017 and into the morning of the next day. Fortunately, no lives were lost in this event, although very severe damage was caused. Those affected have had to work hard to try to bring normality back into their lives. For some, despite the best efforts of all involved, restoring pre-flood conditions is going to take longer. My Department is the lead Department with responsibility for flooding response and several other emergency scenarios. The national directorate for fire and emergency management within my Department has the mandate to co-ordinate emergency response at national level and to liaise with and support the local response, which is led by the relevant local authority in the case of flooding such as happened in Donegal.

Flooding can arise in four different situations: tidal, fluvial, groundwater and pluvial, like the rainfall event on the evening of 22 August 2017 that gave rise to sudden and devastating flooding which affected the north west, and in particular the Inishowen Peninsula in Donegal where homes, businesses, farms, community facilities and infrastructure were very badly damaged. I am happy that the Private Members' motion gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the immediate and effective response of the emergency services in the areas affected, with their initial focus on rescue and protecting the lives of those threatened by the flash flooding which occurred.

I am glad, as Minister of State at the Department with responsibility for local government, that all sides have praised the local government system in Donegal for how it responded in the hour of need. The local elected members of Donegal County Council, along with the local authority management, oversaw the response, clean-up and recovery operations of the local authority. Donegal County Council staff set to work immediately with the other principal response agencies, in accordance with pre-established emergency management procedures, during the flooding and in its immediate aftermath to safeguard and facilitate persons in the area affected and to enable communities to continue to function. In doing so, they were working with their own communities, providing an immediate response for the emerging situations, closing roads, diverting traffic and supporting people in every way that was needed.

The initial response by Donegal County Council transitioned into the clean-up and roads diversion operations mounted in the aftermath of the event in co-ordination with the communities affected and assisted by the Defence Forces, voluntary groups and other local organisations. A range of humanitarian support schemes were activated, including the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection’s humanitarian assistance scheme for householders; the Irish Red Cross humanitarian assistance scheme for small businesses, community, voluntary and sporting bodies; and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s animal welfare and emergency feed provision. Local officials of the relevant organisations have worked in close co-ordination with Donegal County Council to assist those impacted by the flooding. These schemes operate within parameters which have been evolved from the experience of previous events. They are demand-led schemes and are fully underwritten by Government commitment.

Several members of the Government, including those with specific areas of responsibility, visited Donegal to see for themselves the reported devastation and to show support for those affected and the public authorities which have been working in the recovery phase. Donegal County Council is still working to complete an estimate of the clean-up costs and the damage caused by the flooding to roads infrastructure at more than 630 sites. My Department wrote to Donegal County Council on 4 September 2017, acknowledging the exceptional nature of the response activities carried out by Donegal County Council. In recognition of the fact that the costs of these activities could not be met from within existing resources, my Department is making support available to assist in meeting the costs of the response, clean-up and necessary immediate works related to the flooding. This is in furtherance of the Government’s commitment to continuation of the support that has been provided to local authorities to undertake unprogrammed works associated with this type of emergency event. My colleagues in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and the OPW are also liaising with Donegal County Council about works in their areas of competence.

As I noted earlier, flooding events can result from tidal, fluvial, pluvial or groundwater conditions, or combinations of these, and the flooding event in Donegal was a result of an extreme pluvial event of a type which could affect any part of the country. We are conscious of that and it has been highlighted at our own meetings. The House will appreciate that it is simply not possible to forecast where such events may occur and neither is it possible to defend property against this type of event in the way it is possible sometimes to protect those living near rivers, where flooding is more predictable.

Returning to my Department’s main area of responsibility which is the response to flooding events, the key issue of the emergency response therefore, the appropriateness and effectiveness of the local emergency management system currently in place is derived from the framework for major emergency management which was adopted as Government policy in 2006. The relevant local authority acts as lead agency to deliver immediate response, clean-up and recovery operations, with local political accountability for its effectiveness in the first instance. The local authority also co-ordinates the efforts of the other principal response agencies, namely, the Defence Forces and the voluntary and community sector in responding to emergencies of all kinds in their areas.

Although I do not have time to finish my whole speech, I would say that we learn from every emergency event to enhance our approach. The House will be interested to learn that today in Tullamore the national directorate convened a workshop attended by the relevant key crisis management staff of all local authorities to review the Donegal flooding experience and to update our activities and learn from the events. We are constantly striving to achieve best practice. The framework was set down in 2006 and is an evolving procedure. I will hand over to my colleague, Deputy McHugh.

Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Deputy Joe McHugh)

A fellow from Falcarragh said to me in the aftermath of the freak weather incident in Inishowen that the response was politics in action. That is not about Government but local politics. I acknowledge all members of the municipal district in Inishowen who provided an invaluable on-the-ground resource in terms of intelligence gathering. I acknowledge the work of my own colleagues, councillors Bernard McGuinness and John Ryan. That kind of response was very much in evidence. I acknowledge Seán Hogan and his team and the interdepartmental work that they did. They showed leadership and were on the phones to the team at Donegal County Council within hours of the flood. That was so important. The arrival of different personnel was vital for the integrated and responsive nature of what needed to be done, including the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, who ensured her staff were on the ground making sure people could access information about the humanitarian assistance grants in phases 1, 2 and 3.

The Minister, Deputy Regina Doherty, met her staff to ensure they were on the ground meeting people and making sure they could access information on humanitarian assistance and on the first three phases of the operation. The Minister, Deputy Creed, rang me on the morning in question to tell me he was ready to come up, but did not want media coverage. He wanted to find out what was going on, so he met officials from Teagasc and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as part of the assessment. The Minister, Deputy Ross, could not believe his eyes when he saw that many bridges, some of which were constructed over 200 years ago, were gone due to the devastation. That was important from an intelligence point of view.

I want to acknowledge the pivotal role played by the Army in providing shoulder-to-shoulder support to people in very vulnerable positions. The day after this horrible horror event, people were in shock and were experiencing trauma. They needed people to be with them. On behalf of the people of Inishowen and the rest of County Donegal, I thank the young and not-so-young members of the Defence Forces who provided support by lifting blocks, gathering trees from rivers and cutting trees that were blocking bridges. We can all learn lessons. There are things we could have done better. There are things we can do better in the future. If this happens again, we need to ensure we repeat the things we did well on this occasion.

There are outstanding long-term issues. We can always learn. The rivers still need to be cleaned. At the moment, Donegal County Council is assessing who shoulders the responsibility for the rivers. It is considering whether it should carry out these works itself. I know officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are liaising closely with Donegal County Council as they work on these issues. The people from Inishowen who responded ensured nobody died that night. They ensured there were no tragedies and no funerals. They did the proper thing. I suppose it is the natural thing that Irish people do. When others were in trouble, they responded in a proactive way.

In addition to the colleagues I mentioned, I would like to thank the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Griffin. I also thank the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy D'Arcy, who came up to ensure insurance issues, etc., were dealt with. There will be long-term legacy issues. As Deputy Eugene Murphy said, in order to fully understand this issue, one needed to be there to see the destruction. On a personal note, I acknowledge my colleagues, the Minister of State, Deputy English, and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. I thank the officials in the Custom House for their constant engagement and their constant updates to ensure the right thing was done.

I appreciate that some farmers have outstanding issues. We are continuing to liaise to see what we can do. On a personal note, I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, who was there on the first day along with his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Ross. It was really important to have the presence of somebody with experience who had been through this before and was able to assure people that they would get through this. On a personal level, I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for his invaluable insight and contribution during those early hours.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Tá leasú agamsa fosta. Cuirfidh mé é chun tosaigh níos déanaí. I will move the Sinn Féin amendment to this motion at the appropriate time. I thank Deputy McConalogue and his Fianna Fáil colleagues for the opportunity to debate this issue tonight. Everyone has spoken about the devastation that visited the Inishowen Peninsula and areas like Raphoe last month. One really needs to have seen what happened in order to understand its impact. It is important for me to join every Deputy who has spoken up to now in recognising the hard work and dedication of those who have helped the victims of this tragedy. I refer to the local authority staff, the Defence Forces personnel, the members of the emergency services, the volunteers and everyone else in the community who has been involved in the response efforts in the region to date. I am not just referring to people from the Inishowen region; I am speaking about people right across County Donegal and further afield who have been contributing to the effort to return everybody to a stable position.

As I said, we welcome the tabling of this motion, the text of which recognises the serious damage, devastation and destruction caused by last month's flooding, as well as the havoc it wreaked on communities throughout north Donegal. It also acknowledges and heaps praise on the various authorities and responders who provided assistance to those affected by the flooding, as well as those who led the clean-up operations. The Sinn Féin amendment, which seeks to add to the issues highlighted in the Fianna Fáil amendment, refers to the negligence of the Government in abdicating the legal obligation of the State, like all EU member states, to plan and act to prevent flooding where possible, a point which is underlined by "the continued failure of the Government to submit Flood Risk Management Plans to the European Commission in line with the requirements of the European Union Floods Directive". This is further evidence that too little time and care has been directed towards protecting citizens from the ever-increasing threat posed by adverse weather conditions and patterns.

This motion alludes to the fact it is no secret that the Government has been too slow in constructing and introducing the necessary flood defences, schemes and mitigation measures. Communities the length and breadth of this State have been left abandoned by successive Governments even though the localities in question have a history of flooding or have been identified as being at particular risk. I would like to refer to a particular part of County Donegal in this context. We all recognise the schemes that have been put in place and the actions that have been taken by the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and all the other players, including the local authority, to provide humanitarian aid. Castlefin, which is a number of miles down the road from Inishowen, was flooded twice within a year. This caused devastation to businesses and properties. There was no response at that time. People there are asking why they could not access the schemes that are being made available now.

While I recognise the progress that is being made, I remind the House that some communities are being left behind. In June of this year, I asked the Government why it was not committing to flood mitigation measures in Burnfoot. A number of months later, many houses in that village were completely destroyed, unfortunately. Families that were left on the side of the road were completely devastated because their homes were no longer habitable. People did now know where they could go or where they could sleep that night. They did not know where they could call home. They were worried that they would be taken away from their communities and their family supports. I hope the Minister will inform us that the flood mitigation measures in that area are going forward and that local authority houses and all other houses will be secure for the time ahead.

It is time we got tough with the insurance industry on the issue of insurers refusing to provide cover to householders and businesses. In my view, they cannot continue to do what they are doing to vulnerable businesses and households in County Donegal and right across the State. In our amendment to this motion, we call on the Government to "immediately convene a consultation process with all of the farming representative organisations, the Office of Public Works and Inland Fisheries Ireland to examine how water sources, such as rivers and streams, can be better maintained to mitigate the impact of flooding in the future and to amend the relevant legislation if necessary". Similarly, the amendment seeks to "ensure that the current review of the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme results in adequate compensation for farmers with land prone to flooding". Such farmers may suffer financial losses as a result of future flooding events.

I will conclude by saying it is obvious that the inaction must stop. The time to act fast has already passed. We owe it to the communities in Inishowen, in other parts of County Donegal and right across the State to put in place the best strategy and the best measures to protect them from adverse weather patterns. Before this debate finishes, I would like someone on the Government side to comment on the plight of Cockhill Celtic, which is a very large football club in Buncrana that saw its playing fields destroyed during last month's floods. Those involved in the club have no certainty on whether the Government is about to step in here. No timeframe has been set out. I want to make a similar point about Swan Park, which I visited in the company of Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn. The devastation there can be seen by one and all. People want to know whether the park will be restored to its former glory. If so, what is the timeframe for that? I hope we can get clear commitments from the Government on both of those issues before the night is out.

Deputy Carol Nolan

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle as ucht an deis seo a thabhairt dom labhairt ar an topaic seo anocht. I commend Fianna Fáil on the introduction of this motion. I also commend my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, on the tabling of a reasonable and appropriate amendment to that motion. I urge all Deputies in the House to support our amendment.

As we know, the people of the north west of this country have been devastated by the most recent flooding disaster. Homes, businesses, farms, local sports clubs and community amenities across the Inishowen Peninsula have been severely affected. Our solidarity and immediate support must go to these communities. I know that my colleagues - Deputy Pearse Doherty, Senator Pádraig Mac Lochlainn and the broader team of Sinn Féin councillors in County Donegal - have been working tirelessly on behalf of everyone affected.

However, we must turn our attention to the actions of the Government and the statutory agencies in regard to the most recent floods and the issue of flood planning in general. This Government is almost two years past the deadline for the completion of the flood risk management plans and there is still no sign of those plans being published.

The importance of planning cannot be overestimated. It can help curb the risks of flooding as well as reduce insurance premiums for those living in at-risk areas. The European Commission has indicated that it has initiated infringement proceedings against Ireland in order to enforce compliance on this issue. It is a disgrace that the citizens of this country must depend on the European Commission rather than on their own Government to act in their best interests.

Furthermore, recent figures obtained by my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty, from the OPW show that there is very little provision by the Government for flood relief measures in the upper Shannon region. Apart from a relatively minor scheme in Raphoe, County Donegal, there has been no funding allocated to other areas north of the Shannon, north of Athlone, in the past five years and none is projected in the next five years either. That is despite the fact that this region has been subjected to significant flooding in recent times.

In my constituency of Offaly, flooding in Shannon Harbour, Shannonbridge and Banagher was an issue of concern in 2015. We cannot have a repeat of that, nor can we have a repeat of it in any other part of the country.

The submission by the OPW to the review of the capital plan makes it clear that additional resources are required for the office to complete flood defence works. It further states that the fact that this has not been provided for has already constrained the efficient delivery of some aspects of flood defence schemes. The submission also states that an additional €102 million will be required by 2022 to continue works on the current schemes.

Sinn Féin has proposed an additional €35 million in budget 2018 alone. Will the Government commit to that funding? Will the Government commit to ensuring that the flood risk management plans are submitted to the European Commission without any further delay? Will the Government ensure that an appropriate scheme for farmers affected by flooding is included in the upcoming review of areas of natural constraint? Will the Government provide clarity to the people of Donegal that funds will be available to repair the roads, community and sporting facilities that have been destroyed? Will it set out a timeframe for that?

The people of Donegal and citizens across this State who have suffered from the effects of flooding deserve these answers. They also deserve our full support and I call on all parties to support this motion and the amendment put forward by Deputy Doherty.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

As there are six minutes left in this slot I will be calling Deputy Pat Buckley.

Deputy Martin Kenny

I commend the motion before the House and express the solidarity of everybody in the House about what happened in Donegal where approximately one month's rain fell in three hours. We understand that nobody can prepare for that but I spoke to some people about this who had relatives in Donegal and what concerned them was that they found there was not much co-ordination in the response. I understand the Government is saying there was co-ordination but the experience of some people on the ground was that the response was not as well co-ordinated as it could have been. That is something that can be worked on, and I am sure it will be worked on in the future.

The criticism is that there was not some kind of national emergency plan that could be implemented quickly wherever this type of event happens. We hope it never happens again anywhere but, unfortunately, the likelihood is that it may happen somewhere else again.

The issue of insurance is another problem raised by one of the people I spoke to in the area. In all cases, and most people experience it when they have an insurance claim, the first thing the insurance company tries to do is wrangle out of it in whatever way possible to ensure it will not have to pay. Some of the people who have seen their lives washed away are experiencing that now. They are very angry that when insurance company representatives come out to them they start giving all kinds of reasons this or that is not covered. Some of these people are left wondering if the Government or somebody will step in to help them. That is not to say that help has not come. The Army came and helped people clear their houses and did a lot of other work for them. As has been said, Donegal County Council has been magnificent in the work it has done in the area.

The main point that strikes us all, and the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, was in my constituency and many other areas around the country in regard to this, is that when these deluges of rain occur we must ensure that the water levels in the rivers are at their lowest possible. One of the problems is that many small drains and rivers throughout the country have not been cleaned, if not for centuries, certainly in decades in many cases. We would encourage the Government to try to put a fund in place for local authorities to clean those small rivers and drains. An example given to me in Donegal was of bridges washed away in cases where the rivers under them had not been cleared in 30 years. That is part of the problem. If there was a way of moving the flow of water faster, it would make a huge difference in many of these cases.

I suspect the motion put forward will be generally supported by everyone in the House because we all want the same thing. We want to ensure that we have a provision in place so that if this happens again, we will all step up to the mark and the whole of society will feel better about it. However, there are problems that were not dealt with adequately enough, and that needs to be acknowledged.

Deputy Pat Buckley

I welcome this motion and the chance for Deputies to raise in the Dáil the issues of flooding, insurance and flood defences. My party colleagues have said a great deal. It is not the first time this country has dealt with flooding. I stand in solidarity with the people of Donegal in terms of what happened but if we cast our mind back to my constituency in east Cork in 2015, it was very badly hit. On two occasions the people of east Cork expressed their grievances about the lack of organisation when they were hit twice with very bad flooding. The N25 was closed for a number of weeks.

A Deputy on the opposite side of the House mentioned maintenance. The good old days of the fellow with the JCB and the shovel cleaning the country roads and the dikes to keep surface water off the roads have disappeared. We are having major problems in rural areas as well.

I want to draw attention to the problems of the aftermath of flooding and the elephant in the room is insurance. I live at the top of the hill in Midleton. It is probably one of the highest points in my town. Behind me are the water works. Just below me is an estate called Forest Hill. One can understand why it is called Forest Hill; it is built on a hill. A man in that estate could not get insurance because of the flooding in Midleton. The entire town of Midleton would have to flood before that happened. That is one of the issues that has to be addressed.

Deputy Doherty mentioned sporting clubs, social organisations and so on. Our own rugby club, Midleton RFC, had nearly 4 ft of water inside it. That club is built adjacent to a housing estate called Lauriston, which was practically destroyed by flooding. Some of the people lost everything. The position is not all bad but there are a couple of points I want to make. On the night that flooding happened I got a telephone call from a friend of mine in Lebanon who could tell me that there was a full lorry load of sand bags in Collins Barracks but as an elected representative I could not get a contact number to get sanction for those bags to be sent to Midleton. These are just some pointers for the Minister.

I thank Midleton Town Council. When we had the town councils we sanctioned our own money from local funding for flood relief for Midleton and thanks be to God, after a lot of wrangling and disturbances, that is going ahead. When local councils are involved they have the local knowledge and seem to work better.

I will leave the Minister with a final thought. When it comes to planning in the future we should look at all the castles in the country. I have not seen too many castles built on a flood plain. That is another pointer. Prevention is better than cure.

The general public, the local authorities, the Red Cross, the Civil Defence and the Garda have been amazing. When a disaster happens in an area, people pull together. As elected representatives we have to address all these issues and give them the same support people have got in recent years. When people are in dire circumstances, others come together to help them. We have a duty to do the same.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

I saw the reports on television. First, our sympathies are with the people of Donegal for what happened. Second, I want to put on the record of the Dáil and acknowledge that the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, saw the first machines go into the Shannon probably since the Brits were in this country.

That is a fair statement because, my God, it needed doing. It was great to see around Banagher and Meelick the first machines go in, against the wishes of all the so-called non-governmental organisations and every type of expert that tried to tell us it would not work. I welcome that and wish to put on record that it needed doing and still does. It is very easy shouting from the sidelines in opposition, but when someone does good, we must be man enough to say it out straight. No one will come into the House tonight and say the Minister can clean the likes of the River Shannon or rivers in Donegal or whatever overnight. As I have always said, the first start is what is important. At least people will see something is starting to be done after about 70 years of it not being done. It is ferociously important.

I have spoken to the Minister about councils throughout the country. If a pilot scheme is needed to get this going, I have no problem with that. Once upon a time there were schemes here and there right around Ireland whereby rivers and drains were cleaned and water let flow. I have seen some photos of the flooding in Donegal. I am not as familiar with it as the Deputies from Donegal and will never claim to be but I saw trees washed against bridges that blocked water. Many of the water courses in this country are blocked and there is silt in them. If a tree crashes up against a bridge, the water will flow out over it, and when water keeps going it is violent and will take the bridge with it. One does not have to go to Trinity for years to know about water and what it will do.

The councils will not be able to deal with every county overnight, but we could put in place a budget along the lines of the Suck drainage scheme in my area. That is gone. Some of the money is being used on diggers now, in fairness, but the available fund is not enough to catch up, because we are catching up on successive Governments doing nothing, to put it bluntly. In my area we have the likes of the River Suck, which flows into the Shannon. There is also the Brosna. The Minister knows them better than anyone. I have gone up the Shannon. The Minister knows the pinch points on the Shannon. We know them in Deputy Kenny's area in Leitrim. If the likes of Lough Allen were lowered and Jamestown, Tarmonbarry and Roosky done, even just where there are pinch points to get the ball rolling, that would be useful. I know the Minister is familiar with these areas.

I ask that a focus be kept on this. People right across this House have seen what those in Donegal and south Galway went through. They have seen Roscommon, Athlone, Longford, Leitrim and all the other areas, right down to the mouth of the River Shannon. We have seen it in Cork. Why can we not make sure every obstacle is taken out of the way to give a clear run to get this work done? It must be done. I ask the Minister to do it for every county in the upcoming budget.

There is another thing I would like the Minister to start putting a bit of a fire under. There were, and still are, obstacles put in our way by people out measuring rain. We can go back on 40 years of records of rainfall in different places but there are surveys going on at present in some of these turloughs. We need to come up with a fast solution to the likes of Lough Funshinagh, Castleplunket and all the other areas. South Galway can be solved. This is not about my area or our area. It is about all the different areas of Ireland, be it Donegal, Cork, Galway or Roscommon. Wherever there is a problem it can be solved. Funnily enough, when there were no satellites or lasers a long time ago, water was moved better than with all the gear there is now. I ask the Minister to act in this regard.

In Donegal, and indeed the country in general, when a crisis hits, not alone in areas of flooding, but also in farming communities, an awful lot of red tape is put in the way of people affected to access different things. Householders can be affected too. There could be a person with a large mortgage who has kids going to college and who is paying the college fees but who does not qualify for a certain scheme. They might not have a penny in the house that night. We must make sure that things are put in place for those people.

The Minister also has a big problem to face in insurance. I am familiar with MABS. Sometimes it is not even known where people are living. If they were to sell their house this minute, the people living there can get insurance. I saw an incident in recent days where a person was selling their house and a mortgage was pulled because the new tenants could not get insurance, even though there is insurance on the property at present and it is fully covered for flood damage. This is only happening because new people are going to live in the property. Insurance companies are using outdated projected maps on which it is written that they are not official. There is also this great phrase they use when one has a go at them. They will say they did their own assessment, which I believe is codswallop. They are refusing people throughout this country and we must address that situation for those people because it is ferociously unfair to leave them that way.

Another thing the Minister's Department should encourage is that all the council people in the local authorities, be they roads engineers or the executive engineer, go into the Department. I have seen cases in which we might give out that money did not go somewhere, but when we trace it back, there might not have been an application. I have seen some great people. Eugene Dwyer in Roscommon is one of the best at doing this, in fairness to him, but I have seen around different parts of the country that they need to wake up to make sure we draw down this money. Earlier a Deputy referred to somewhere that did not get it. I know the cost-benefit analysis has been sorted and that it is more workable in rural parts of Ireland, but we need to make sure when these questions are asked that the public representatives are told straight out that if they do not make the application, they cannot get the money. It does not come down from Dublin in the train to be used without anyone knowing. These things need to be done. I ask the Minister to put a fund in place to make sure we start a programme. Four or five counties have been badly hit. That fund and a pilot scheme should start to get the ball rolling. I encourage the Minister to keep the focus on the Shannon. I know it will not all be cleaned overnight. We could get the pinch points out as a start. There are trees lying across other rivers and, of course, one will find the do-gooder who will say it cannot be taken it out and there is only one solution. Fish will live, the whole ecology of a river will work and it will always come back if it is kept clean and the flow is kept going.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The House will have noticed Deputy Barry arrived about a minute late. He was delayed. With the Deputies' permission, I propose to call him now. Is that agreed?

Deputy Eugene Murphy

No objection.

Deputy Mick Barry

I appreciate that. The floods which hit Donegal in late August, as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will know, were devastating. The report I read - I am not even sure if it was the final report - indicated 47 households registered as being displaced and 300 issues relating to the road network, ranging from extensive structural damage to bridges to stretches of rural roads being completely washed away.

The motion refers to the challenge of climate change and increasingly volatile weather patterns. The storms in Donegal may have occurred with or without climate change, but it is a fact there has been a fourfold increase in the number of severe storms globally since 1970. The warmer atmosphere is a contributory factor, as is the warmer water evaporating more easily. It is not just the storms but also other extreme weather events such as we saw with the heatwave in Europe in July.

One hundred companies have been responsible for 70% of global gas emissions since 1988.

A mere 25 companies are responsible for more than 50% of the global gas emissions since 1988. In the White House today, the world's number one capitalist politician, Donald J. Trump, a climate change denier, has appointed as the head of the US Environmental Protection Agency another climate change denier.

It is not just the crazy element of world capitalism that is contributing massively to the climate change crisis. Investment in renewables peaked at $257 billion in the year 2011 and it has fallen by 23% since, in particular in countries such as Germany, where there has been a 56% decline, and in Italy, where there has been a 75% decline. Martin Wolf, writing in the Financial Times in December of last year, said the Paris Agreement is far more than the world could have reasonably expected a year or two ago but, as it stands, it will at best slow the pace at which the world reaches a possible disaster. All these examples show that the international capitalist system - both the Trump wing, on the one hand, and the more Christian democratic or social democratic wing, on the other - is contributing massively to this climate change crisis. Naomi Klein, one of the foremost commentators on this issue internationally, in her recent book, This Changes Everything, talking of capitalism, said, "If we want to avoid climate change, we need system change". We agree with that point entirely.

How does this reflect itself in Ireland? The level of neglect from this Government and from the political establishment on the climate change crisis as it pertains in this country is astounding. Joseph Curtin from the Institute of International and European Affairs talks about the level of fines the Irish State could receive for not meeting targets on renewable energy and emissions. He talks in terms of fines of €610 million for missing targets by 2020 and, potentially, of up to €5.5 billion for missing targets up to the year 2030. The way in which agriculture is organised in this country is one major factor and transport is another. Again, what has been the role of successive Governments led by both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on this issue? If they were to take a serious approach towards meeting the climate change challenge, surely a very basic thing they would do is put in place massive improvements in the public transport system to make it more attractive as an alternative to the car. Yet, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus have all had their public service obligation payments slashed since 2008 - they have not even risen back to 2008 levels yet and, in the case of Iarnród Éireann, the payments have been cut nearly in half. We say that those cuts must be fully reversed and that even when they have been reversed, there should be a doubling of expenditure on public transport.

Imaginative and bold policies to combat climate change must be introduced. For example, in 1981 the Greater London Council introduced its Fares Fair policy whereby fares were cut by some 30% and there was a massive increase in the numbers using public transport and the tube. London Transport said that the benefits outweighed the costs by a ratio of more than two to one. There needs to be a debate internationally about the idea of treating public transport in the way that education and health are meant to be organised but are actually not - that is, free at the point of use, with no charge. There should be an international debate on that but, at the very least, as an immediate short-term step, there should be a Fares Fair policy, slashing fares and making public transport more attractive as an alternative to the car.

I want to conclude on a point I would particularly like to address to the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, namely, the question of flood defences for 2016-2021 in the Cork area. Some €140 million of the €430 million is being set aside for the flood defences in Cork, which are to be concentrated in the city centre in raising the quay walls, with 46 pumping stations. A major increase in the discharge levels at the Inniscarra dam, if necessary, would be considered safe alongside that. Those proposals have been critiqued and, in my opinion, critiqued in a very professional and serious way by the Save Cork City group. Among their supporters is Professor Robert Devoy of UCC, who is a leading figure on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Professor Devoy and his colleagues on Save Cork City say that the flood defence plans are based on a ten-year-old study of the flood tide risks and do not take sufficient account of the climate change challenge that Cork will meet. He believes we need to factor in sea level rises of at least 1 m, which I believe is quite a conservative figure and I have looked at his argumentation, and also that a tidal barrier will be necessary within the next couple of decades at least. The group argues, persuasively in my opinion, that we should factor in the tidal barrier now. It will have to be built sooner or later but if it is done now, and combined with upriver anti-flooding measures and increasing the capacity of the Inniscarra dam, it represents a more effective and certainly more people-friendly proposal than the one the OPW has advanced. The OPW counterargument is that it is expensive and would cost between €450 million and €1 billion. If that is what it takes to provide proper flood defences for the city that will not be out of date because of climate change relatively quickly, then that is what needs to be done. However, I believe the OPW has come to this figure rather quickly and perhaps is using it to justify its position as opposed to really objectively analysing it. I would support the call for an independent analysis of what a tidal barrier would genuinely cost in Cork. I believe it could and should be part of an alternative to the current proposals.

Deputy Michael Collins

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the motion and I commend Deputy Charlie McConalogue on bringing it forward. First, I want to extend my sympathies to the people of Donegal whose homes, farms and businesses have been destroyed in recent flash flooding. I have seen numerous times the destruction caused by unprecedented levels of flooding in my own constituency of Cork South-West. In 2015 towns such as Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibbereen, and communities like Ballylickey, were torn apart by flooding causing tens of thousands of euro worth of damage. Many of my constituents are still struggling to restore their farms, homes and businesses to their pre-2015 state.

I welcome that a €10 million flood relief scheme for Bandon town is being advanced by the OPW in partnership with Cork County Council. This scheme will help alleviate serious flooding of Bandon although it will take a number of years for the scheme to go through feasibility, planning and procurement processes and construction prior to becoming operational. I note such schemes have been successful in towns such as Clonmel, County Tipperary, and plans for similar schemes are ongoing in Skibbereen, Clonakilty and other areas of west Cork. For that reason, I am urging the Government to find and allocate the funds to establish adequate flood defences in every city, town and village in the country.

I have raised in the Dáil previously the issue of insensitive insurance companies increasing premiums and denying policies to my constituents, and this is again very relevant as it is estimated that over 50,000 people in Ireland are without flood insurance. The reality is that it is not those who live on the top of mountains who are rejected for flood insurance cover but those who live in vulnerable areas and whose houses have been flooded previously. Failure to obtain adequate flood insurance is holding back local economies as banks will not provide small businesses loans to help them reach their potential due to the threat of floods.

It is an absolute disgrace that insurance companies are able to deny home and business owners such cover, or price them out of their means where cover is granted. This is another reason the Government needs to put pressure and stricter regulations on the insurance industry in Ireland.

Council workers, volunteers and those in the emergency services are owed a great deal for their hard work in these situations. These people stayed out day and night to clear roads, drains and assist those in flooded properties in an effort to restore normality as soon as possible. Their work must be recognised and commended.

The reality of the issue is that as our climate changes, this type of adverse weather will become more and more common. Our Government needs to be in a position to act immediately to provide aid to flooded areas. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, is well aware of the damage that flooding can cause. He has seen it first-hand in his constituency and his town of Athlone. In fairness to the Minister of State, he visited the areas in west Cork since he took over his Ministry and when he was not long in the office. He spent the time with the people of Bandon, Skibbereen and Clonakilty. The Minister of State came back again to the people of west Cork and at ten o'clock at night he sat in the armchairs with those people who had suffered floods in Ballylickey and Castletownbere, and he caught up with the constituents. That went down very well with the people, to see that the Minister of State had the passion and the compassion for them, and the good intention to turn it around when they saw devastation.

I will conclude by stating my support once again for this motion. Once the repairs to the affected areas in Donegal are completed, however, let us not wait for another town in the country to be destroyed by extreme and unprecedented floods.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae

I thank Deputy Charlie McConalogue and Fianna Fáil for bringing this very important motion before the House. I want to recognise this.

I sympathise with the great people above in Donegal who suffered so much, as people throughout the country have suffered in the past. It is right that Fianna Fáil recognises this here tonight and that we are debating it for two days and two nights. It is welcome.

I will start with the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, himself. I recognise him as being probably one of the most proactive Ministers of State in government when it comes to dealing with problems and issues and in being dedicated to detail. I will give an example to the House of what the Minister of State is like. Before he became a Minister of State, I went to Deputy Moran and asked him when he became a Minister if he would come to Kerry and look at problems. His answer was "yes". Deputy Moran was a Minister of State for only three hours when he rang me and said, "When am I coming to Kerry?" We agreed upon a date, and the Minister of State came down and looked at issues. He was not like some fancy Minister who came in swanning around the place, looking at things and saying this and that would be fine. After the Minister of State visited our county, travelling around with my brother and me, he called me at 10.15 p.m. on a Saturday to go through the schemes we had looked at. We wrote them down and discussed them again in great detail. No one can ever take that from him and I am very proud of the way the Minister of State carries out his ministerial duties. No one will ever take that from him. Be it looking at the problems we had in Kenmare, in Glenflesk, in Currow, in Castleisland and out on the way to Fenit where all of Liebherr's cranes have to go out the road, the Minister of State did not stand on the other side of the road wondering what the coastal erosion was like. He climbed out over the ditch and he nearly got lost into the sea himself by looking at it. He was not one bit afraid of it. That is what one calls a Minister of State who has the common, ordinary approach. He also has the ability to come back to his Department to fight for the money. Ten days ago he gave us €77,000 for one problem. I thank him in advance, and I will be the first to do so, for the money he is going to give us in the very near future, which we will not talk about now but we will announce in a couple of days' time when he will have it ready for us.

Deputy Eugene Murphy

The Deputy had better get the money first.

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae

We will be very grateful for it when the Minister of State gives it to us. This is what we need in government. We need some ordinary people who are down to earth and who feel the passion of what happens on the ground. There is nothing worse than flooding and the problems it causes to people's property, their houses, their farms and the roads that would be torn away. We have the right man in position at the moment with the Minister of State there. The longer he is there, the better it will be for the people around the rest of the country.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae has two minutes.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. My time has been cut, but we will keep going anyway.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The Deputy will have to look at his colleagues.

Deputy Eugene Murphy

He can blame his brother.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

I thank Deputy Charlie McConalogue for bringing this very important motion before the House tonight. He represents his people in Donegal. We all sympathise with those who have been adversely affected. Their lives have been turned upside down with what has happened.

I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for coming down to Kerry to visit the places that are in trouble there. I especially thank him for the €77,000 he sent to deal with the problem in Currow. As Deputy Michael Healy-Rae has said, we are waiting for and hoping for more funding to deal with other issues.

There is one issue that affects all the State and we must grasp hold of it and deal with it. We are talking about two applications that must come in to the Department from Kerry. Inland Fisheries Ireland will not let us touch one spoon of gravel or one spoon of silt in any one of the places we are talking of. This means the rivers will keep rising and we will have to raise the roads and jack up the houses if we are to keep people out of water. There are 22 houses that have been continually flooded in Glenflesk. All that they will let us do there now, by the height of begging, is cut the trees. This has been going on for two or three years. They will now let us cut the trees. God almighty. We always had a closed time in fishing and an open time. People were always able to take the gravel out from the river during the open times. This kept the rivers flowing and they did no harm to anyone and there were fish in the rivers. I want to know from where they got this almighty power.

With regard to cost compliance, there are farmers right around the country being threatened that if they take one spoon of gravel or silt out of the river they would lose their single farm payment. That is blackmail.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Go raibh maith agat, Deputy.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

That is blackmail and torturing people and it is ensuring-----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy-----

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

Let me have one more minute, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. They took my time.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

That is not my responsibility.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

This has to be dealt with because it is manifesting right around the country. They are laying down the law that one must stay six inches up from the top of the water. Depending on the day that one looks at the river, the river could be two or three feet higher. Inland Fisheries Ireland must be brought to task or else-----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Please, Deputy-----

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

-----the rest of the country will be flooded and we will all be flooded if this continues. I am asking the Minister of State to deal with this.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

If the Deputy's colleagues deprive him of time, it does not give him the right to deprive Deputy Eamon Ryan of this time.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

I would not like to deprive Deputy Ryan of anything.

Deputy Eamon Ryan

I might come back to Deputy Healy-Rae's points but first, it is absolutely right that we are discussing flooding and what happened in Donegal this summer. We should also think outside that box and think of the people of Puerto Rico tonight. One week on from the hurricane that hit the island, there are 1 million people who do not have power. It is 90° there, if Members can imagine that. Out of 69 hospitals, only 11 have either power or fuel. Their entire agriculture system has been wiped out. We can go across the world and see the same this summer. In Bangladesh in recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of people have had everything they have washed away. We have to think big around what is actually happening. It is climate change and we must be clear about it, and in fairness to the Minister of State I heard him say it on the radio when the flash flood hit Donegal. I am sure he heard the people in Donegal saying that they had never seen this before. Lord knows that Donegal is used to rain, but this was not in the area of Donegal that we would expect floods.

Perhaps the Minister of State could come back to me, if not tonight then with a written response, on the following matter. The OPW conducted a detailed assessment of some 70,000 houses it saw as immediate flood risk. I would love to know if any of the houses that were flooded in Inishowen were on that list. What happened in Donegal, like what is happening in so many places, is outside the ordinary. As a result of climate change, everything is outside the ordinary. We must prepare for it.

We have to protect ourselves and seek to prevent. We cannot just do protection after the fact; we have to stop it. We must all do something to stop it happening, whether we are in Puerto Rico, Bangladesh or anywhere else. While there is uncertainty about having a five or ten-year horizon, if we keep going as we are, we will tip the world into being uninhabitable for tens of thousands of years. That is the scale of the crisis we face and our responsibility.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I may have different views, but I keep coming back to the central point I always make to him. Protecting and preventing are better for Irish farmers. What we need to do is work with nature as it is the clever thing to do, but that does not necessarily mean dredging every river. In many cases, the best scientists I hear talking about how to prevent and protect say we should actually give rivers room to move rather than build every wall and dredge every stream as if it were going to solve the problem. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and I can sit down together. He can bring his experts and I can bring mine and in a very civil way we can see what is the better approach. The Dutch and others know a thing or two about river and water management, but they made the mistake of culverting the whole River Rhine. They now tell me that they realise that does not work as one cannot beat nature. One cannot tunnel, funnel and manage it that way. It is better to work with it. In farming it is better to work with it. My heart goes out to those farmers in County Donegal and I agree with Fianna Fáil in its motion that they need support. My heart also goes out to those grain farmers who I am told again face a fairly serious problem this autumn. God help us, it is going to start to rain in the next few days. Are they going to face what they had to face last year when the harvest was flattened and they were picking corn up off the ground in November?

While one can ignore Met Éireann which does not seem to have a clue what is happening, our best scientists in Maynooth are saying that while they cannot be certain, the north, west and south west of the country will see a lot more rain with more intense bursts, which is what we saw happen in County Donegal. However, the south and the east are likely to see less and we are likely to face drought in this couintry, as hard as that is to believe.

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae

Therefore, what the Deputy is saying is that we should let the flood in the front door and out the back door.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Eugene Murphy)

Is Deputy Eamon Ryan sharing time with Deputy Healy?

Deputy Eamon Ryan

I am. I will finish in 30 seconds.

I know the River Flesk well. I swam in it many's the day. It is a beautiful river. We need to protect the rivers in Killarney. However, the best approach is not to build anything on the historical flood plains as we have done, which was an incredible mistake; rather, it is to let the natural river systems work. If we think we can beat nature by culverting every river or that it is about dredging every river, we will see a stronger flow and end up with what happened in County Donegal where there was an intense downpour. Rivers will become faster and faster and we will end up not being able to control them. The better way to manage rivers is to let them spread in places.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Eugene Murphy)

Is the Deputy using up Deputy Healy's time?

Deputy Eamon Ryan

I will finish on that point. I thank the Acting Chairman. I hand over to the man from Clonmel.

Deputy Seamus Healy

I welcome this debate and compliment Deputy Charlie McConalogue on bringing forward the motion. There is no doubt that climate change has affected the weather in the past few years. That is something we have to accept and deal with into the future. I was shocked by the television pictures of what had happened in County Donegal in August. I was not on the ground there, but I am not easily shocked by flooding as I come from Clonmel which has been flooded on a regular basis for centuries. I remember looking forward as a young child to a few days' holiday every year as we could not get from Old Bridge to the Presentation Convent or Christian Brothers school in the town. In fact, the most recent phase of flooding happened when I was mayor of the town in February 1995. It was then that we decided that something simply had to be done. We worked with the various agencies and, thankfully, a flood defence system has been put in place of the town and worked. It took quite a long time to get it done, perhaps 15 or 16 years, but it is now in place and has been effective. It cost a huge amount of money - €40 million.

In the short time available to me I will focus on the question of insurance. In Clonmel where the Office of Public Works has put in place flood defences at a cost of €40 million, even now the various insurance companies will not cover properties in the town. There are properties which were never or nearly flooded. They are miles from the river, but their owners have been denied insurance. That is something the Minister of State and the Government must take up immediately with the insurance companies. The Office of Public Works has recently produced flood maps for the whole country which the insurance companies are using to deny insurance cover not only to people whose properties are deemed to be at risk of flooding but also to anyone who is anywhere near a flood-risk zone. It is simply unacceptable that they are doing this. I ask the Government to call in the insurance companies to ensure flood insurance cover will be available to households and businesses in these areas, particularly where there are flood defences to deal with once-in-100-years flood events as happened in Clonmel.

Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher

I wish to share time with Deputy Michael McGrath.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Eugene Murphy)

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher

I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Charlie McConalogue, and the Acting Chairman, Deputy Eugene Murphy, who is our spokesperson on flooding for tabling this important motion. It is very appropriate to have this debate some weeks after the floods occurred on the Inishowen Peninsula. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, who post-haste travelled to County Donegal on becoming aware of the flooding. I was indisposed at the time and unable to witness it at first hand, but in following it on television, in the newspapers and on local radio I noticed that the Minister of State was not looking for the limelight and not interested in photo opportunities, unlike many of his colleagues, on which I compliment him. However, we will judge him and his colleagues in the weeks ahead when we see whether they will put their money where their mouths are as they said they would on that fateful August Monday in County Donegal. I believe the Minister of State will and we will support him to ensure his colleagues in government will do likewise. We were told that money would be available to restore whatever it was necessary to restore, whether it was bridges, roads or sports facilities, and to provide compensation for farmers. As such, we will hold the Government to account in the coming weeks.

I acknowledge the total destruction caused by the flooding on the Inishowen Peninsula and the huge personal loss. Those of us who were not subject to it will never understand, but we can look objectively from afar at the destruction caused for many families and to their properties; the damage caused for many households, some of an unbelievable scale and extent, and the destruction of business premises. We have all witnessed the vast infrastructural damage to roads, bridges and sports facilities and seen the loss of livestock and crops suffered by farmers. I pay tribute to the emergency services who worked there 24-7 for a period of days. I also pay tribute to the local authority workers and members of the Defence Forces who did tremendous work.

We cannot forget the many hundreds of volunteers who, and many sporting organisations which, assisted the people in the aftermath of the flooding.

Many promises were made in the days after the flood, as well as numerous assurances by Government representatives. Now that the television cameras and the national media have left, it is time to test the Government's commitment. The promises made on the ground in August should not be lessened in any way. The Government should not renege on them because we will not allow it to do so.

When the local improvement schemes were announced with a blaze of publicity, the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, told the people of Donegal that 80% of the roads would be covered. Now we find out there is only funding for 4%. A specific additional allocation should have been made for Inishowen, not an allocation with a substitute for the rest of the county. There are hundreds of local authority roads but no funding provided for them. How many of the 4% of those roads which will qualify in Donegal will be in Inishowen? I doubt it will be many.

The Minister of State’s office will make statements about cúntóirí teanglann and an extra €30,000. However, the Department will then say it made a mistake and it should be €28,000 less. There is no joined-up thinking whatsoever. We will hold the Government to account again, but that is for another day and another time.

Deputy Joe McHugh

Go on ahead.

Deputy Pat The Cope Gallagher

I deal with facts. Tá an fhírinne searbh.

Priority needs to be given to flood defences in our county. When I, along with the Minister of State, Deputy McHugh, and Deputy Pearse Doherty, visited the Castlefinn Partnership Initiative, we saw the Government and council made no contribution whatsoever. All the flood defences were carried out by locals. I hope we do not have a repeat of this in Inishowen.

Why did the Government not apply for EU solidarity funding? I was in Europe when the Shannon burst its banks. At the last minute, at the 11th hour, I convinced the then Minister, Brian Lenihan, to apply for it. He instructed the Department to apply for funding. We were told it did not tick the boxes or fit the criteria. However, we got €13 million from it. That was €13 million less of a burden on the Exchequer. Now the Government has decided not to apply for solidarity funding, despite the fact the UK Government secured €60 million from the same fund with Brexit looming. Is it too much work? Should the Government have not applied? I suggest the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, should look at this again. However, I am afraid it might be too late.

Donegal County Council has applied for €15 million, a conservative figure. That is to be additional over and above what will be provided by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. There should be ring-fenced funding for sporting facilities. We must ensure there is provision to compensate farmers who have lost crops because of adverse weather conditions.

There is a legal and moral responsibility on the Government to deliver on the promises made. It is critical that the necessary investment is provided without delay.

Deputy Michael McGrath

I join my colleagues, as well as every Member across the House, in thanking Deputy McConalogue for bringing forward this motion. I want to acknowledge the Acting Chairman’s work in dealing with flooding issues as Fianna Fáil spokesperson on flood relief.

In the coming weeks, the Minister of State will receive an invitation from the Oireachtas finance committee to deal with legislative scrutiny of the Flood Insurance Bill 2016, a Fianna Fáil Private Members’ Bill. It passed Second Stage in November of last year and has been in the queue for scrutiny since then. Scrutiny will happen in October. The Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach will hear from Fianna Fáil, as sponsors of the Bill, all stakeholders, including Insurance Ireland, the Minister of State and the Irish Flood Forum, which has been consistently raising the issue of areas where OPW food relief schemes have been completed but flood insurance cover has not been reinstated. We heard tonight from Deputy Healy, who represents Clonmel, where an expensive scheme was completed and has worked.

A different solution is needed for communities where the risk of flooding remains. We cannot compel the insurance industry to insure against a risk which is approaching a certainty that there will be another flood event. Over the next five years, the State will invest more than €400 million on a range of flood relief schemes. The OPW is a competent authority. Where it has completed these schemes, they have proved to be effective. There is a reasonable expectation that insurance cover would follow suit.

We all know the consequences for households which cannot get insurance cover. I have stood in homes in Cork which have been flooded three or four times. They have no cover anymore and they will not get it back. For businesses trying to access credit, the banks will look at their insurance policies. If there is a big gap in their cover because they are in an area at risk or one which has a previous history of flooding, they will not get the credit they may need to survive or to expand. It is a key issue which is going to have to be addressed.

In the Government's amendment to this motion, it quotes figures about the level of flood cover in areas where schemes have been completed. Those are industry figures and they should be challenged. If we had not challenged the insurance industry on motor insurance premiums, for example, I do not think we would have reached the worst stage of motor insurance hikes at this point. We challenged the industry and we have made some progress. The Government needs to do the same with flood insurance. Having a memorandum of understanding and sharing information with the industry is not sufficient.

I look forward to engaging further with the Minister of State over the coming weeks where we can get into the detail of the Flood Insurance Bill. We can see how it might be able to assist communities which have benefitted from major investment and have flood defence schemes completed which are actually working. That is the central purpose of that Bill.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Eugene Murphy)

I now call the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. I do not know how he will respond because there was not a bad word said about him all evening.

Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran)

I will deal with all the issues raised. If I leave anybody out, I will come back to them with a written response or meet them personally. My heart goes out to the people of Donegal. On the Tuesday morning of the flooding, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe McHugh, and I postponed our engagements and headed to Donegal to see first hand the effects of the floods. The three days and two nights I spent in Donegal were all too familiar to me as somebody who has experienced flooding over several years. I have seen the suffering all too many times.

We would all love for the Government to do an awful lot more. However, how to deal with the deluge of rain which came to Donegal at that particular time would be hard for any Government. This is not about politics but about people.

By the end of this year, the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, will be published. The people waiting for this can be assured this is under way.

My Department has met Donegal County Council on two occasions and there was another meeting yesterday. It is difficult to solve the problems. It is not just about building walls or digging canals, but putting infrastructure in place so if this happens again it can cope with such a deluge of rain. The gullies and culverts will be prepared to take it so people will not have to suffer. Then we must examine what are called minor works schemes, such as minor works in terms of walls, and major schemes in terms of what emerges from CFRAM. Whatever needs to be done by my Department will be done for the people of Donegal.

My Department has been invited to meet the elected members in Donegal on 10 October. I have spoken to many of those members and I have given an assurance that I will be there that night. However, I wish to give a commitment when I go there that a programme of works will be started and completed to ensure, to the best of my and the Department's ability, that this devastation does not happen again.

A number of queries were put to me about insurance. Since I returned from Donegal I, along with the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy D'Arcy, have spoken to Insurance Ireland. We put forward the same questions the Deputy raised. We are waiting for a response to them.

Members of Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil have spoken a great deal about budgets. Not one Member from either party has met me about budgetary matters, what is required or what those parties wish to put forward on behalf of the people they represent. I have done that. People say nothing has happened. I am in this job for almost four months. In those four months, I have had machines operating on the lower end of the Shannon, something people have told me for the past 30 or 40 years could never happen. It is not one machine but a number of machines. We are not doing one job, but seven jobs. We also have machines operating on the outskirts of Athlone on a major scheme. People might say that is because it is in my constituency. This scheme was prioritised and had to happen for the people of Athlone.

With regard to the upper Shannon, yesterday I spoke to people in the Office of Public Works about Jamestown and the issues I had examined when I visited. I am hoping to have a meeting in the near future with the stakeholders there, Waterways Ireland, to see if we can fast-track help in that regard. Many people talk about channel cleaning. I hope to announce a pilot scheme for two counties in the next week to ten days. I will give the reason for picking two. There is what I call the red tape scenario, but let us not look at it from that point of view. Let us look at it from the point of view of the IFA, the local authorities and the National Parks and Wildlife Service so we can overcome the issues that face the local authorities. I will not be found wanting with regard to funding to support such programmes. I have two counties in mind and I will announce them in the next ten days.

Questions were raised about climate change. The Government must consider climate change in a more serious manner. I am not fully up to date with the issue of climate change but I know from what happened in Donegal and in other parts of the country that climate change is a huge problem and we must deal with it.

With regard to Cork, I have visited Cork, Kerry and almost all of the places that are subject to flooding. Recently, we announced a major scheme for the people of Clonakilty. On the visit I made I saw at first hand the consequences those people face. The fact that we can announce the scheme now shows the proactive work of the Government. Cork has probably the biggest scheme the State will ever undertake. I have heard the debate among politicians across this House, I have read newspaper articles and I have heard what people say. I have also heard what the people of Cork had to say when I visited their shops and met them on the street. They said: "Minister, will you get on with building the walls? Will you protect us? We cannot wait for a redesign or a barrage to be built." I am not saying that we will not build it. However, I am referring to the submissions I have received in the Department. I look at the submissions, I have met the people from Save Cork City and I have met the people on the ground. I also acknowledge the good work of the OPW. Every scheme it has built to date has been trialled and tested and has worked.

Seán Hogan is here for the debate. As a result of Cork and the meeting the co-ordination group held, it was signalled across every Department by him as chairman that whatever was required for Donegal was to be forthcoming. That will remain the case as long as we are helping the people of Donegal. I can give that assurance.

There are questions about how to respond to flooding. I issued a paper to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, a few days ago on what I believe is necessary in the future when something such as this happens. One agency within a single Department should deal with it. Some Members were critical tonight of Met Éireann. Have those critics gone to visit Met Éireann, seen what the people there are doing and asked them what they intend to do in the future? Met Éireann is doing the best it can with what is available to it. We have a new flood project with Met Éireann - I am afraid I cannot pronounce its name - to help with future flooding in terms of helping to forecast what might happen. I also consulted with my Department and different bodies on producing an app so that we might be able to help people. Everybody has a smart phone now. If one knew what amount of rain was falling, what gates were open on the Shannon and the amount of water going through Ardnacrusha or Parteen Weir, it could be a major help for a farmer or an ordinary home dweller who can look at this all day, every day.

There are other issues I am examining aside from what is in this document relating to the home protection scheme. We are all aware of that. Some 69 people have shown expressions of interest in that. It is another major step by the Government that people do not give it credit for. There are also the criteria for the minor works scheme and the rolling out of more schemes to help people in areas throughout the country. Let nobody say that nothing is happening under my watch. That might have been the case under other people's watches, but while I am the Minister for as long as the people leave me here or for as long as this Government lasts, I can assure people that I will leave no stone unturned until I have a plan in place, so that if whoever comes after me follows that plan they will not have people roaring and giving out that nothing is being done. I assure Members that when they get a chance to sit where I am they will find it is not as easy as putting a digger in the ground or removing a few stones. There are defined rules, guidelines and regulations. We must work with the people.

The ESB, Waterways Ireland, the local authorities, the OPW, Seán Hogan's people, the IFA, the IFI and in particular the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which is condemned the most, have all been tremendous to me in my job since the day I took office. All Ministers, ranging from the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, have been forthcoming in meeting what I require. My line Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and the Taoiseach have been 100% behind what I am trying to do.

Deputy Charlie McConalogue

I thank Members for their contributions to the debate. They were much appreciated and the debate was most constructive. The Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, was not present for the start of the debate so I wish to acknowledge his travelling to Donegal the day after the flooding and the time he spent there observing the extent of the damage. The time he gave was very prompt, necessary and appreciated. I also acknowledge Mr. Seán Hogan's role and his courtesy in carrying out that role.

Some good and important points were made in this debate. My party's objective in tabling the motion is to ensure lessons are learned about what could have been done better in response to flooding on Inishowen and address some remaining weaknesses and failures.

Deputy Michael McGrath spoke very well on the issue of insurance cover, which the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, also acknowledged. The motion calls for progress to be made on enacting a Fianna Fáil Bill in this area, which will be crucial. It also calls on the Oireachtas to explore the options available to households unable to obtain insurance, including an examination of the model introduced in the United Kingdom.

With regard to the necessity to fully implement the capital funding allocation, the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, spoke about the budgets available to him. A sum of €431 million has been allocated for flood alleviation in the period up to 2020. It is crucial that this funding is drawn down and there are no delays in using it for flood mitigation measures. The Ministers of State, Deputy Moran and Deputy McHugh, and a number of other politicians visited Burnfoot in County Donegal where they saw flooding in the Páirc an Ghrianán housing estate. I corresponded with the Department before the floods on the need for flood mitigation measures on the estate. However, the Department recommended that works should not be carried out. The Minister of State will have seen the results of that decision. The adjacent estate, Lios na Greine, was also flooded.

The implementation of the CFRAM study has been delayed and must be expedited. The measures required as a result of the study must be introduced. The budget for its implementation has been allocated and must be used for that purpose. There must be no further delays in rolling out the programme.

Previous speakers raised the issue of river cleaning. There is a gap in respect of who has responsibility for cleaning rivers. In County Donegal and other counties no agency has responsibility for this. While the cleaning of rivers would not have prevented the recent flooding on Inishowen, it is an ongoing contributory factor in many flooding events. The nettle must be grasped and the issued addressed to ensure some agency is given responsibility for cleaning rivers. I have no doubt local authorities would be willing to assume this role if they were given responsibility and the funding required for the task.

I again commend the ongoing work of those whom I thanked in my earlier contribution. Many more months of work lie ahead. Donegal County Council continues to do this work well and it is important that it receive support from the Minister of State. I acknowledge the work of the councillors of Inishowen municipal district who worked exceptionally hard, night and day, with officials from Donegal County Council to ensure a good response to the flood damage. I particularly acknowledge the work of my party's councillors in the district, Martin McDermott, Rena Donaghey and Paul Canning. All the councillors in the municipal district continue to press this issue.

As the motion states, the response to the flooding on Inishowen was not good enough in many instances. The Minister of State indicated he wished to address many of the issues that have arisen. I thanked him earlier for his quick response and for visiting the area, as did many other Ministers and politicians. Notwithstanding this, it was a week before it was announced that the Red Cross would provide support to small businesses and sporting and voluntary organisations. During that week, people stood in mud and water with lost stock and without support for their businesses. As the Minister of State will acknowledge, this was not good enough. We must learn lessons to ensure this does not happen again.

It took two weeks for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to agree to establish a fund to provide financial support to the agriculture sector. People had to wait a further week for application forms to become available. In the meantime, many farms had been devastated, with rubble in fields, stock lost and fences broken. Repair work should be ongoing but, as of today, none of the affected farmers has received funding. Money should have been provided promptly to allow work to commence. Lessons need to be learned because the response in this case was not good enough.

As well as learning lessons, we must address a number of issues immediately, including funding for sporting organisations. As I outlined, Cockhill Celtic soccer club has been without two pitches for five weeks. The pitches will need to be completely relaid, which will probably cost in excess of €100,000. The club has still not been informed that it will receive funding for this work. This is not for a new development, which would be covered by sport capital allocations, but to restore existing facilities. It is not good enough that the club has been left picking up the pieces without financial support. It should have been given a commitment that it would receive the funding it requires. The motion calls for the provision of this funding and, if passed, as I expect, the Government must follow through by providing it.

Swan Park in Buncrana is a fantastic public amenity used by hundreds of people every day. Substantial investment in recent years enabled the park to be incrementally developed into a fantastic facility. After the flooding, it needs to be rebuilt. However, the Government has not given a commitment to ensure the park is restored to its former state. The motion calls on the Government to make such a commitment and I hope it will deliver it.

Likewise, Gleneven Waterfall in Clonmany is a tremendous tourist attraction which was developed by the local community over a period of years. Much restoration work has already been done, with supplies and labour being provided free of charge. However, the community needs a commitment of support from the Government, as called for in the motion.

Inexplicably, a number of farmers have been left out of the scheme that has been announced. I know one farmer who lost 40 acres of grain and 60 acres of potatoes as a result of the flooding. He harvested his barley crop, at a low yield, after the flooding but the veterinary advice was that it could not be used because of the risk of contamination. This farmer has been entirely excluded from the fund the Government belatedly announced. The funding available has been capped at €15,000, which would not go very far in meeting his losses. We must engage with the European Union to ascertain whether it will provide flexibility on offering additional support. As matters stand, the farmer in question has been excluded from the fund, which is scandalous. The motion calls for this issue to be addressed. Five weeks after the flooding occurred, it should not be the case that this farmer has not received assistance. Other farmers who lost potatoes and second crop silage have also been excluded from the agricultural fund, as have farmers on whose land roads were washed away. The motion calls for these farmers to be included in the scheme and for the Government to provide support. This must be done now.

I welcome the support for the motion expressed by Deputies across the House. I also welcome the amendment tabled by Sinn Féin, which I am pleased to accept. I am disappointed the Government's amendment does not deal with the substantive points raised in the motion or provide the commitments on the issues I have outlined. It is crucial these commitments are provided. We cannot accept the Government amendment on that basis. I hope the House will support the motion. I ask sincerely that the Government act on it and learn lessons in terms of what can be done better. It must also act now to address the issues I have raised and provide the support many people need at this very difficult time.

Amendment put.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

In accordance with Standing Order 70(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Thursday, 28 September 2017.

The Dáil adjourned at 10 p.m. until 12 noon on Wednesday, 27 September 2017.