Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 7 Feb 1990

Vol. 395 No. 4

Adjournment Debate. - Storm Damage.

Mr. Allen

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving us the opportunity to present our case. It is agreed that my party will take four minutes, which I will share with Deputy Ahearn. The Labour Party will take four minutes and Deputy Power has indicated that he will take two minutes.

The people in the southern parts of the country have suffered much in recent days from the wind, the rain and the flash floods which have hit most of the country. My constituency has suffered grievously. Much of the Lee Valley has been flooded and areas that had never been flooded in living memory were affected this time. The people of Inniscarra, Blarney and Tower have suffered substantial personal damages. I ask the Minister to make every attempt to allocate funds to remedy the damage already done and, equally important, finance must be made available to prevent further disasters in the future.

We had a similar problem in Cork last year and if the Minister remembers, he flew into Cork and met with me, the Lord Mayor at the time, and other representatives in County Hall, Cork but we have not heard any more about the problem since.

I am prepared to accept acts of God, but damages brought about as a result of negligence and inefficiency must be questioned. I will be very specific. One of the areas most seriously affected yesterday was the Riverview Estate in Tower, a local authority estate which was very badly affected by the overflowing of the Shournagh river. Last night on radio we were promised by the Minister who is a local resident that technical studies would be carried out to alleviate the problem which was partly brought about by problems on the river. This river overflowed two years ago and at that time we were promised that technical studies would be carried out. What we need at this stage is action. In the short time I have available I will try to elaborate on the role of the ESB on the River Lee. The role of the ESB in the flooding disaster in the Cork area must be seriously examined. I question the flood management arrangements at the dam. I know that the high pressures on the River Lee were increased by the outfall from the dam. In effect the problems at the Shournagh river were exacerbated by its inability to discharge into the River Lee. I am calling for the following three points: first, compensation for the people affected; second, finance for future works to be carried out to prevent further disasters — a flood prevention programme involving the ESB and the two local authorities, Cork Corporation and Cork County Council; and, third, a full departmental investigation into the workings of the ESB at the Inniscarra dam.

I believe that the ESB have once again been negligent on this occasion. As was the case after flooding two years ago, the ESB disclaimed all responsibility at the outset but had to pay out massive amounts of compensation in the end.

Mrs. T. Ahearn

I should like to thank Deputy Allen for sharing his time with me.

I wish to express my deep concern and anxiety at the extraordinary flooding that has occurred in my constituency of south Tipperary, most importantly in my home village of Ardfinnan, in Clonmel and in Kilmoyler. In fact, the village of Ardfinnan is in a state of emergency this evening because the flooding there has been compounded by the fact that a manhole cover was lifted by the force of the water, resulting in sewage flowing into the shops and houses on the street. Despite enormous efforts on the part of the local authority overseer and engineer their efforts were defeated by the enormity of the downpour. This evening the people of Ardfinnan, Clonmel and Kilmoyler are devastated, their homes have been ruined and, worse still, their fears are mounting because of a potentially greater disaster occurring this evening with winds and tides rising and a very bad weather forecast.

Clonmel is experiencing its worst flood disaster since 1968. This morning 14 cars had to be rescued by the Clonmel fire brigade. All schools in the town are closed, houses are flooded and much of the town is impassable.

Our top priority must be to make some effort to ensure that any future flooding will not cause such destruction and havoc. It is all too easy to refer to such disasters as an act of God but man-made solutions must help us cope with God-sent misfortunes.

I believe that finance must be made available to south Tipperary county council to ascertain whether some improvements can be effected to alleviate any recurrence of such flooding. Furthermore, the people whose homes have been destroyed must be given help to repair the damage caused, restoring furniture and any soiled household goods. People cannot be allowed to live in fear of such a disaster recurring. Unfortunately, there will be a recurrence unless emergency action is taken immediately.

Mr. Ferris

I want to thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing this matter to be raised this evening and for the arrangement for the sharing of time.

The flooding of the River Suir is a matter of record and happens on and off each year. The river originates in north Tipperary, flows through south Tipperary, Cashel, Golden, Tankardstown, Cahir, Ardfinnan, Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir and when in flood causes widespread damage to private and public property, havoc to agricultural lands and particularly to national primary and county roads. There are two national primary routes in south Tipperary.

On my way here on Tuesday I ran into flooding, which was why I endeavoured to raise this matter earlier. Clonmel Corporation are maintaining today that this is the worst flooding that has taken place in 20 years. I spoke to their engineers and to the town clerk. I have also heard, at first hand, stories of houses which had been repaired by health boards, and occupied by old people, being flooded and damaged irreparably, with no assistance forthcoming. Some type of emergency supplementary social welfare scheme will have to be devised to help such people. Business premises in Golden, Tankardstown, Ardfinnan, Clonmel and Carrickon-Suir have been flooded and cars submerged. There is widespread chaos and this all requires money in order to be put right. Because of the damage done to business premises, hotels and public offices, the Minister will have to address this as a real crisis.

This raises for all of us, representatives of south Tipperary in particular, the question of the drainage of the River Suir which was promised by successive Governments over the years. I understand that its drainage is now a priority on the Government's arterial drainage list. Indeed, the late John Boyle from Ardfinnan led a deputation to the Government some 15 years ago when they were promised something would be done about the drainage of that river.

I am calling on the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the River Suir drainage receives priority for structural and-or national funds. I want his assurance that south Tipperary will be considered a disaster area following this latest flooding. We call on the Minister to deal with the matter, in any way possible, as a matter of urgency.

Mr. G. O'Sullivan

I should like to thank other Deputies for allowing me participate in this debate. I want to refer to the flooding in the Lee Valley in particular. This latest occurrence is a repetition of that in 1988 and warrants urgent attention on the part of the Department of the Environment particularly to ascertain the root cause of this flooding.

I should like to concentrate my remarks on the 76-house estate, the Riverview Estate, on the Blarney Road, between Blarney and Tower. It is not good enough for a local authority official, reportedly, to allege that, because such is an act of God, no compensation can be paid. Indeed, it was no act of God that these houses were built in this low-lying area, close to the River Shournagh, and liable to be flooded on a fairly wide scale. The fact that the local authority, a week prior to this most recent flooding, delivered sand bags to the residents is an indication that they anticipated such flooding.

The Minister ultimately is responsible because his Department would have approved local authority plans for the building of that estate in that area. He should now examine this matter urgently and compensate the residents of this estate who have suffered severe damage. I would appeal to the Minister to take this problem on board immediately in the same way as the people of Ballsbridge were treated when the River Dodder overflowed some years ago.

Mr. Power

I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for having given me an opportunity to raise on the Adjournment the matter of the serious flooding which has taken place in Athy. I thank Deputy Allen and others for sharing their time with me.

The position obtaining in Athy at present is indeed a sad one. Locals say they have not seen such bad flooding since 1955. The River Barrow, one of the slowest flowing rivers in the country, has overflowed, causing chaos in surrounding areas. The town's water supply has been affected to the extent that locals cannot drink the water from their taps. Sewerage has also been affected, with White Castle Lawns being the worst hit. The greatest damage has been caused on the Monasterevan-Athy road, which is under two feet of water. Residents of St. Joseph's Terrace have been threatened with evacuation, with sandbags having been placed at hall doors to prevent flooding of homes.

I must pay a special tribute to the relevant local authorities, to the Army, Civil Defence, the Eastern Health Board, the fire brigade and ambulance services for their quick action in dealing with this potential disaster. A contingency plan was devised and all forces were put on alert, ready and willing to play their part. The next 24 hours will prove crucial because, if the rains continue, they will have a disastrous effect on the town overall.

This present storm has continued for a number of days now, wreaking an enormous amount of damage across the country. I call on the Minister to provide assistance, particularly to those in areas which have incurred the most storm damage. It is indeed an ill wind that blows nobody any good. In saying that, I hope some lessons can be learned from our experience of this most recent storm. In all future planning, whether for housing or schools, but particularly in regard to houses for the elderly, special consideration must be given to siting. In the past it has been popular to site such buildings close to rivers for scenic and other reasons. But the past few days have clearly demonstrated that people living in these areas are very vulnerable when flooding takes place. I would ask that immediate assistance be given them and that action be taken to prevent a recurrence.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. Flynn)

I share the concern expressed by all Deputies who raised these matters on the Adjournment this evening for the people who have been and continue to be affected by the severe weather prevailing in various parts of the country. I am anxious to help in so far as I can in areas which fall within the responsibility of my Department. There are of course, as the Deputies fully appreciate, limits to the area of my responsibility and to the funds at my disposal to give assistance. For example, there are no funds available to me to compensate for any damage caused by the storms to private properties. Householders would normally be expected to have their property and the contents insured against losses from flooding and indeed adverse weather conditions but in necessitous cases it is open to health boards to provide assistance to elderly householders, under the task force on special housing aid for the elderly, to remedy damage to their houses. Money has been paid through that avenue on a previous occasion. In so far as business premises are concerned, it has been a very long established practice that the Exchequer cannot meet losses incurred by businesses as a result of their being uninsured.

In recent months there have been a number of instances of very severe weather. The first was over the October bank holiday weekend when areas in the west and north-west experienced extremely heavy rainfalls which caused a good deal of damage to public roads and bridges. Deputies will remember that that was the subject of an Adjournment debate here on 5 December last when I said that I would consider if special funds for remedial works on roads and bridges were warranted. The next spate of bad weather was on 16-17 December when storms hit the east and south coasts. The damage to public property during these storms appears to have related mainly to coastal defences including piers, slipways and so on. There was however significant consequential damage to public roads at that time in the immediate vicinity of the coast. I understand that local authorities have raised the matter with the Department of the Marine to see if something can be done.

I indicated in reply to a recent parliamentary question that I would give consideration to providing assistance in relation to damage to public roads in the context of the allocation of the balance of the road grants for 1990. I am glad to be able to say to Deputies this evening that these grants are on their way to the local authorities; they will certainly have received them before the Deputies go home this weekend. Included in these grants is £1 million by way of assistance towards the cost of remedial works to roads and bridges affected by the severe weather in both October and December last. Deputy Allen will remember that I visited the area at that time and I said that I would actively consider doing something about the matter. The 1989 grants which I allocated included £740,000 for Cork County Council to remedy road damage that was caused in October 1988. I am also allocating money in regard to the damage caused in October and December last. I stress that my decision to provide assistance to the relevant local authorities in those cases followed quite a detailed assessment of the damage undertaken by the Department when conditions had returned to something approaching normal. The assessment could not be made until that happened and that is why I have made the allocation today in that regard.

Turning to the present spell of bad weather, what is now required is to let local authorities get on with the job of dealing with the immediate difficulties. I would join with Deputy Power in complimenting the emergency services for the job they are doing in very difficult circumstances. They certainly have been acquitting themselves admirably. I am satisfied that these people are well organised, have the capacity to do the job and are responding well to the very difficult situation which exists at present and obviously will continue to exist for the next few days. In time there will be an assessment of the damage caused to public property. In so far as it relates to public roads, which come under my responsibility, I will consider the extent of the damage and whether special funding is called for. I have done so for the past two years and I will have to do so again at this stage. Unfortunately, it seems to be a continuing difficulty for me.

It is important to note that the significantly increased discretionary grants for regional and county roads, which have been notified to local authorities for 1990, may be used in appropriate cases to undertake the remedial works arising from the present bad weather. The grants to county councils under that heading amount to over £63 million in 1990 as compared to £47.4 million under the equivalent grants in 1989 and £33.4 million in 1987. There has been a very big increase in the amount of money that I have been allocating by way of discretionary grant and I am advising the local authorities accordingly that they can utilise some element of that money if they find it appropriate to deal with the present difficulties.

To Deputy Ferris I have to say that the problem in Ardfinnan is certainly related to the River Suir — the Deputy is quite right about that. I think he recognises that I have no function in that area. It is a question for the Office of Public Works in so far as arterial drainage is concerned but I take note of what he has said.

Mr. Allen

What about the EC funding that we read so much about?

Mr. Flynn

In the EC there is such a thing as disaster funding but it was never intended to be used for localised disruption of this kind. It is for disasters such as earthquakes and avalanches or disasters of that dimension. The amount of the fund is very small but if I thought there was a bob to be got for this kind of damage I would look for it. The money was not intended to be used to deal with localised disruption and works of a remedial nature to roads and bridges.

We have committed some funds for damage caused by storms in the past and I will make an assessment on the matter on this occasion when the weather returns to normal and when I get reports on it. I cannot add anything further except to say that we all sympathise with those who are discommoded in any way and I will look on the matter as favourably as I can in due course.

The Dáil adjourned at 11 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 8 February 1990.