I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to create a single competent authority to co-ordinate flood risk and management along the River Shannon and to provide for matters connected therewith.
Tá mé buíoch den Cheann Comhairle as an seans a thug sé dom an Bille seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Like colleagues, I have visited home owners and business owners in various parts of the State who have been very badly affected by the latest floods. We have witnessed the devastation of family homes and the destruction of people's livelihoods. Many farms, too, have been badly affected.
In Clonlara, County Clare, which is situated beside the River Shannon, Geraldine and Joe Quinlivan have to put on life-jackets and travel a mile by boat to get to and from their home. They are utterly exasperated. Joe has lived beside and worked on the river all his life and is able to explain the problem clearly. He told me: "If you have a coal or wood fire and you do not clean your chimney then you will be in trouble. If you do not clean the river then you should not be surprised if it leads to flooding". Excess water has to go somewhere. If the water channel has narrowed because it has not been cleaned, adjoining lands will flood.
Joe is critical, too, of the refusal of the authorities to listen to the concerns of local people with local knowledge. I was pleasantly surprised by the degree of knowledge that is there among people living in the affected areas, which is essential to combatting flooding. I support the suggestion from many property owners, including the Quinlivans, that local communities should be represented on the agency the Government is proposing to establish or any other agency that is put in place.
Geraldine and Joe have lived in their home in Springfield, Clonlara for 150 years. Rugadh athair Geraldine ansin i 1929. It was 65 years later before the first flood hit and, subsequently, there were floods in 2000, 2006, 2009, 2014 and again this year. I am sure the Taoiseach has seen the psychological distress and sheer mental and physical exhaustion that is visited upon people in these circumstances. Every year, from November to March, 60 families in Clonlara are living in dread of decisions taken by the ESB at Parteen Weir, especially if a wet summer has left the water table high.
Successive Governments have failed to deal in a co-ordinated and strategic fashion with the problem of flooding. Most of the repeated flooding has been in the Shannon region. Téann an tSionainn go mall, agus tá 10% d'uisce na tíre ar fáil ann. The catchment flood risk assessment and management report identifies 300 locations where flood defences need to be provided, 66 of which are located along the River Shannon. The problem of organising a co-ordinated response to flooding is exacerbated by the myriad bodies and agencies with statutory authority for managing the river. The fact there is no single agency to manage the Shannon and co-ordinate the response to flooding in the region is an indictment of successive governments. In December, I asked the Taoiseach to establish a single agency to perform that role. He gave no rational explanation for his rejection of my proposal and I ask that he reconsider his position now. The recently announced task force for managing flood risk along the Shannon will not have a legislative basis. The Government could and should have acted sooner and what is proposed does not go far enough.
A Shannon river authority is needed to ensure proper co-ordination and a robust response to all flooding events in order to minimise flood risk and damage. The Bill Teachta Stanley and I are introducing today proposes to establish an agency with overall responsibility for the assessment and management of flood risk and flood defences along the River Shannon, co-ordination of the work of key stakeholders and the preparation of a strategic plan for the management of the river. It should be properly and adequately resourced under the auspices of the Office of Public Works.
The Taoiseach has said previously that the problems associated with the management of the Shannon have been discussed since as far back as the foundation of the State. For all we know, they might even have been discussed when the British were here. This Bill will ensure positive and constructive action is finally taken.
