Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 23 Nov 2023

Vol. 1046 No. 3

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate

Flood Risk Management

Deputy Chris Andrews

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. In the past few weeks, we have seen the devastating impact floods can have on communities, North and South and all over the island of Ireland. Last month in Midleton the main street was submerged in 3 ft of water in only eight minutes, leaving a trail of devastation in that community. There has been similar devastation in County Down, with towns such as Downpatrick, Newcastle and Newry heavily impacted by flooding. In 2002, in my constituency, Ringsend and Sandymount experienced the harsh realities of not having flood defences. It was traumatic and I distinctly remember being in the areas affected and the devastation caused for residents. I know the Irish Red Cross intervened and work has been done in Ringsend along the River Dodder, which has made a significant difference to the residents and given them a sense of security.

The Sandymount flood protection project was initiated in 2003 following the major flooding in 2002. More than 20 years on, we have seen little or no progress. All we have seen from Dublin City Council is the stalling of these works. The community is sick and tired of being given start dates for work, only for it to be stalled again and again. It is a disgrace and an insult to the local community that these vital works have been delayed again.

The most recent announcement is that there will be a delay of ten years. Understandably, residents in Ringsend are devastated by this news. Given the increase in flooding and the speed with which it happens, residents are absolutely horrified that it will take ten years before work will start again. I have been speaking with local people over the past week and they are devastated and disappointed with the news from Dublin City Council. The entire area of Sandymount is at risk of flooding. There are more than 1,000 homes in the area so the potential risk to the community is enormous. How is it possible that these works will take more than a decade to deliver?

The Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association has sought a meeting with the Minister of State with responsibility for public works, Deputy O'Donovan. I would appreciate if the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, would bring the message back to his colleague the need to take the residents up on that offer to meet them. I strongly urge the Minister of State to accept that invitation. It is really important. He is, after all, from Newcastle West, a town that has suffered from the devastation of flooding, so he understands flooding. He should take up the residents' request to meet them.

I ask that Minister of State with responsibility for public works also engage with Dublin City Council to seek clarity as to why a flood defence system will take ten years to deliver. I ask that he and the council work together to ensure they reduce the timeframe for the completion of these works because there is a real concern from the community that its voice is not being listened to. I ask that every effort be made to reduce the timeframe. The ten-year timeframe is far too long for people, young and old. It is not acceptable and there has to be real engagement on and an urgency about progress for flood defences in Sandymount and along the coast around Dublin Bay. It has been glacial and it needs to be speeded up as a matter of urgency.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Kieran O'Donnell)

I am taking this debate on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Patrick O’Donovan. I thank Deputy Andrews for raising this important issue.

The Office of Public Works is responsible for leading and co-ordinating the implementation of flood relief schemes to protect Ireland against significant flood risk from rivers and the sea. The catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme, Ireland’s largest study of flood risk, was completed by the OPW in 2018. CFRAM studied the flood risk for two thirds of the population against the risk of flooding from rivers and seas. An output of the CFRAM programme, the Government’s flood risk management plans, provides the evidence for the design and construction of an additional 150 relief schemes for the most at-risk communities. The Government has committed €1.3 billion to 2030 under the national development plan to deliver these 150 additional flood relief schemes.

Since 2018, a partnership between the OPW and local authorities throughout the country has allowed Ireland to treble to approximately 100 the number of flood relief schemes currently at design, development and construction stages. The progression of flood relief schemes involves complex engineering and construction solutions and therefore requires lengthy planning and decision lead-in times. The process for the development of flood relief schemes follows a number of stages, including stage 1, scheme development and preliminary design; stage 2, planning; stage 3, detailed design; and stage 4, construction. During the relevant stages, extensive and detailed technical analysis is required to establish the most appropriate solution, which also has to be adaptable to the increased risk from climate change. Extensive public consultation is also required at various stages to ensure that those affected by a scheme have the opportunity to make an input into its design and implementation.

Ecological and archaeological issues that arise during the relevant stages often require in-depth analysis in order to ensure that the technical solution selected will meet the requirements of existing EU and national environmental legislation.

In relation to the flood relief scheme in Sandymount that Deputy Andrews mentioned, the OPW is providing technical and financial support to Dublin City Council that is leading the development and design of the flood relief scheme at Sandymount. In 2022, following discussions between the OPW and Dublin City Council, it was agreed that the Sandymount flood relief scheme would be progressed through a steering group consisting of representatives from the OPW and Dublin City Council. To facilitate the appointment of consultants for the Sandymount flood relief scheme, Dublin City Council is undertaking a tender process for the establishment of the multi-party framework agreement for consultant engineering design services for flood alleviation projects, with the initial contract being the Sandymount flood relief scheme. Dublin City Council issued its tender on 2 November and it is planned to appoint consultants in the first quarter of 2024.

The development of a detailed project programme for the Sandymount flood relief scheme will commence following the appointment of an engineering consultancy for the scheme. Dublin City Council has completed preliminary design works on a possible design option for part of the overall Sandymount flood relief scheme. While it is envisaged that stage 1 of the Sandymount flood relief scheme to identify an option will take approximately three years, the appointed consultants will be tasked with identifying whether advanced works or a phased approach to the overall scheme can be progressed. Following the identification of the preferred option, the Sandymount flood relief scheme will be required to go through various stages of development, including environmental assessments for planning, design and construction. I will take back the request of Deputy Andrews to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, and the OPW with regard to meeting the residents and Dublin City Council. We all want to get schemes built as quickly as possible.

Deputy Chris Andrews

I thank the Minister of State and I would appreciate if he would do so. Clearly ten years is an unacceptable wait for residents for flood relief works to be completed. It is very important that people get their heads together. Everybody in the House would agree that families should not have to live in fear of the next flood. This is what people in Sandymount and Ringsend are worried about.

In a related matter, in June there was a discharge by Uisce Éireann of large volumes of raw sewage directly onto the shoreline in Sandymount with no warning to the community and no clean up effort by Uisce Éireann. The utter lack of respect shown to users of Sandymount Strand by the likes of Uisce Éireann is an absolute disgrace. No community should be subjected to raw sewage being released onto a beach, which is an amenity and a biosphere.

Uisce Éireann has also refused to deal with the serious problem caused by ectocarpus algae along the strand. It strikes me as no coincidence that we see a large bloom of algae following the discharge of wastewater into the bay from the Ringsend and Sandymount treatment plant. The look and foul odour of the algae leaves much of the strand unusable. Residents have repeatedly sought action from the council to combat the algae on the strand. Like so many other issues, their concerns seem to fall on deaf ears. The algae look and smell like faeces. The levels of algae on Sandymount Strand in recent years have increased dramatically. It is not a coincidence that these levels of foul algae have increased with the increase of raw sewage discharges into Dublin Bay.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I thank Deputy Andrews. We understand how important the scheme is. Once the scheme is completed it will protect 1,000 properties, as Deputy Andrews mentioned. The Government is committed to the delivery of a flood relief scheme in Sandymount, and the OPW and Dublin City Council are striving to expedite and progress the capital flood relief works with minimum delay. A process is under way. A tender has gone out to appoint engineers and consultants. They will consider the work that has been done to date by Dublin City Council and see whether it will be required to be done in one or two phases.

With regard to the points made by Deputy Andrews on Uisce Éireann, I suggest he writes to me and I will follow up with it on his behalf.

Disability Services

Deputy John McGuinness

SOS Services in Kilkenny has been delivering essential day and residential services for almost 50 years. It provides an excellent service. It is run by a very efficient chief executive who assists in a very direct way all of the families concerned. Last year the HSE gave a once-off allocation of €540,000 to cover the once-off costs that SOS Kilkenny was experiencing at the time. This €540,000 payment should be repeated again this year because SOS Kilkenny finds itself under extreme pressure to meet all of the costs it faces.

As has the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, I have come from a meeting of the finance committee where we heard the cost of heating increased in one Department by 70%. We can imagine the cost of services and wages across the board and the difference between section 38 and section 39 bodies. Bodies such as SOS Kilkenny are under enormous pressure. The extension of this is that the pressure then builds up on the families concerned. Some people are now elderly and they find it extremely difficult to cope. They would not be able to cope at all if it were not for SOS Kilkenny.

I have tabled this matter to ask the Minister to repeat the grant of €540,000. I ask that the Minister look at the number of cases that are now with the Department of Health seeking funding for individual cases and families. They are often referred to as business cases but this dehumanises what is going on. These are families struggling with members who have a disability. Some families have more than one child with a disability. Bodies such as SOS Kilkenny stand in the gap, representing the HSE as it were, and delivering very good services.

The fact that so many requests made of the Department for the funding of individual cases are not answered is absolutely despicable. We are dealing with the most vulnerable people in society. It is similar to the CAMHS issue. The parents of young people cannot access the services they require, and it is not tomorrow or in a month's time that they require these services but now. It seems the State is deaf to the calls of the public representatives to provide the funding and professionals necessary to deliver the services required.

On behalf of SOS Kilkenny, all of the families concerned that are under pressure, and the manager of SOS Kilkenny, Francis Coughlan, who is an excellent example of good management, I ask the Department to respond to the request for €540,000. I also ask it to fast-track some of the cases that have been before it for the past four or five years. I want to make it clear to the Minister for Health that in raising this issue today in the Dáil I am reflecting the views of all of the families concerned, the staff concerned and the manager.

I want to add to this the need for respite. This has been going on for far too long. It needs to be funded and delivered. I will ask again and again for delivery of this amount of money.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I thank Deputy McGuinness for raising this important matter on behalf of SOS Kilkenny, a service provider in his constituency. It has done great work for more than 40 years. It provides a range of services for individuals, supporting them to develop and utilise their abilities to be active and valued members of their communities, leading a life of their choosing.

I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, Deputy Anne Rabbitte.

The Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, Deputy Rabbitte, on whose behalf I am taking this debate, is very much aware of the significant demands for service provision in the disability sector. She has sought to provide additional funding to address a range of programmes in recent budgets and is keen to build on work commenced with the disability capacity review. I took up the specific issue of SOS with Deputy Rabbitte before the debate today. I spoke to her and her officials. She is currently considering all applications, and no final decisions have been made. However, I have spoken to her specifically on the Deputy's request about SOS. It obviously has an application in now for a similar amount of funding to last year - €540,000. The Minister is well aware of that and the great work it does.

Funding of almost €2.8 billion for disability services has been allocated for 2024, providing the basis to continue to improving access to enhanced disability services throughout the country. The overall increase in recent years from €1.7 billion at the close of 2017 to close to €2.8 billion in 2024 reflects the programme for Government commitment to improving the lives of people with disabilities, signalling to those with a disability that this Government is serious about making a difference. In 2023, the HSE national service plan provides for an additional 43 residential places as well as 23 residential care packages to young people ageing out of Tusla services. In 2023, €6.7 million new development funding was made available to further expand respite services. I note Deputy McGuinness's strong advocacy in the area of respite. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, are fully aware of the importance of respite.

As of September 2023, 8,355 residential places are being provided to some of our most vulnerable members of society. I note that, in 2023, this Government provided €100 million in once-off non-pay inflationary support payments to community-based voluntary organisations in recognition of the challenges that these organisations were experiencing as a result of increasing energy, heating and related costs. The HSE has management and oversight responsibilities for the funding provided for specialist disability services. This includes the allocation of funding at CHO level to a range of providers and services. With regard to County Kilkenny specifically, I am informed by the HSE that currently it supports the provision of 955 residential places across the community health organisation, CHO, 5.

Going back to the Deputy's key request on behalf of SOS Kilkenny for the once-off funding to be provided this year too, he has told us the business case for respite care and about the timeframe for taking on cases, and we all deal with that. I know it is a priority with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly. I have spoken with the Minister of State about the Deputy's specific request on SOS Kilkenny. She is considering that whole area with regard to funding and would hope to have a decision made on that in the not-too-distant future.

Deputy John McGuinness

The Minister of State is well aware of the services provided by people in SOS and the struggles of families, because she spoke to Francis Coughlan and is aware that they have put everything they possibly can into what they do as individuals delivering those services. They go the extra mile. The families go the extra mile and the support is there for them, although that support has diminished in terms of funding. Without the co-operation of SOS and the families concerned, some may well be institutionalised or put into some form of long-term care, and that is not acceptable. My request for the €540,000 for the respite house and the acknowledgement of the section 38 and section 39 issue and how it is going to be addressed for the future is essential for the continuance of this service. It is not just an ask I have dreamed up. It is coming from all of the families. It is coming from Francis Coughlan, and it is recognised as an organisation that has brought initiative to this. It has brought vision to this sector, and is without doubt giving value for money for every single thing it does. The new cases the organisation is asking to be funded have gone on too long, as I have said already.

The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, from her experience of having visited SOS, knowing the manager and knowing what people do there, should without any further delay fund the cases that have been there for a long period. That is not much to ask. It is assisting families and individuals to live a more fulfilled life. That is what we should be funding. Organisations like SOS that are willing to get the funding and use it efficiently and properly and in a way to get more value for money are the organisations we should be funding. I ask that the Minister of State be told to make an early decision about this through the HSE and to take the pressure off those families and off the SOS organisation.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I again thank Deputy McGuinness for raising the important matter of supports for people with disabilities, in particular SOS Kilkenny. The Deputy speaks about respite care and the business cases, and I take his point that it is about services for individual humans. I note his request that all three decisions be taken as quickly as possible. As I have said, the need for the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to support organisations is recognised in the €100 million inflationary support fund in 2023. We also note, as has the Deputy, that SOS Kilkenny received once-off funding last year. I have outlined the significant investment in disability services and referenced the disability capacity review. The forthcoming disability action plan details how the recommendations of the capacity review will be implemented in the coming years.

In 2021, the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte published the disability capacity review, which outlined the capacity and needs for a growing and ageing population and increasing demand for specialised needs, including residential services and care up to 2032. The aim of all our efforts is to support those with a disability and with specialised needs to live ordinary lives in ordinary places.

The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is fully aware of SOS Kilkenny. I think she has visited it, and has obviously met with the CEO, Francis Coughlan. She is fully aware of the great work the organisation does. I had a discussion with the Minister of State and her advisers before I came in because I wanted to update Deputy McGuinness. I am fully aware that funding is under consideration with the HSE and it is looking to make a decision as quickly as possible. I thank the Deputy again.

Flood Relief Schemes

Deputy Pat Buckley

Considering this is about flood relief, I acknowledge that I met the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, in Midleton at the entrance to Tir Cluain estate and Moore's Bridge on the Sunday. I want to give a synopsis of why we are here tonight. These are the words of one of the volunteers in the hub in Midleton, County Cork:

The events of Wednesday 18 October 2023 will forever be engrained in the memory of everyone in east Cork .... Within hours of opening our doors the true devastation became obvious and we walked around Midleton. People were crying out for cleaning supplies. Bleach and disinfectant, mops, brushes and buckets [were] the most sought after goods so that is where we started. Within 24 hours the Midleton Hub had morphed into a humanitarian crisis hub. Amazing volunteers, companies [and] organizations all eagerly got on board to support the people of east Cork. In-house, our team at the Midleton Hub, all of whom are volunteers - we have no paid members of staff - who had a week earlier been unaware of the skills needed to manage a project of this magnitude hit the ground running by using their own personal experience and common sense to get the job done. The most frustrating aspect of what we were co-ordinating was the fact that there was no supports in place from any authority, body or government. Many people were expecting a 'plan' to be in place and 'someone' to be in charge but as the hours and days passed it became evident that this was not the case, there was no one coming and it was down to the Midleton Hub and the amazing community of east Cork - Midleton, Castlemartyr, Mogeely, Killeagh and Whitegate. There was no one coming to 'save' us. It was up to east Cork. Humanity, empathy and common sense - that is what has prevailed.

The questions put to me were as follows:

Where is the contingency? Who is the point of contact? Where is the emergency plan for when the next disaster hits east Cork, not just Midleton but Castlemartyr, Mogeely and all the areas throughout east Cork devastated by the recent events?

I have been contacted by a community nurse who was trying to secure a bed for an elderly lady in need after her own bed was destroyed by flooding. This elderly couple already existed in the "system", so why is a community nurse forced to seek supports elsewhere from a crisis volunteer group?

I have been tasked with having to make a decision about who is most in need. The names of five families appeared before me on a list. It fell on my shoulders to determine who I should give the fridge, the cooker, [and] the dehumidifier to. I had to choose between a family of two adults and five children, one child with severe autism; a family who literally had the clothes on their back and a one-year old child; or an elderly couple both in their late 60s with no family support; an elderly couple, one bed-bound, with no English; a family of three - two elderly parents and a son in his 30s with physical and mental health issues who was traumatised by the recent events. Why was that left to the Midleton Hub?

They are the words of one of the volunteers. I commend everybody who rallied around. I had a recent meeting with the municipal district officer as well. Only for these volunteers very little would have been co-ordinated. The Minister of State complimented the emergency services that were there and the county council and I have to commend the two social welfare officers who were out on the Saturday and Sunday knocking on doors trying to assist people. However, when I had this meeting I asked the district officer who is the co-ordinator where I go if this happens again. Where is the follow-up? We had met briefly on the Sunday above in the estate in Tír Cluain. There is also an issue with Moore's Bridge, which is on a private road, but again the system seems to be reactive instead of proactive. Cork County Council was very fast to issue a letter to the residents there saying: "That is not our problem. That is your baby. Get it out of the river because that is causing an obstruction." To my mind, in a time of emergency you have an emergency response. That should be pulled out and the debate had afterwards to assist with what they could do with that bridge. There are a couple of other issues and I will come back to them after the Minister of State replies. I want him to paint a picture of what is going to happen next.

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I thank Deputy Buckley for raising this important matter. I did meet him in Midleton that Sunday. It was very distressing for the people whose homes and businesses were affected following the devastation caused by the flooding.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is designated as the lead Department for co-ordinating the response at national level to seven scenarios, including severe weather and flooding. The National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management, NDFEM, within the Department is tasked with co-ordinating the response to these emergencies, working closely with Met Éireann, local authorities, which are the lead agency for the response to severe weather, Departments and other agencies following the procedures developed over the years and set out in the document Strategic Emergency Management - National Framework. This includes facilitating collective decision-making and ensuring aligned public safety messaging among a broad range of Departments, organisations and groups that have a role to play in any of the given seven emergency types under its remit.

With reference to the weather systems we have experienced in recent weeks, Storm Babet was an intense, slow-moving rainfall weather front originating in the Bay of Biscay. The timing of Storm Babet's arrival combined with complex coastal, pluvial and fluvial conditions resulted in significant flooding, especially for the south and east of the country. It impacted many parts of the south and south east of Ireland with severe flooding in Midleton, which I myself saw at first hand.

Following a short reprieve, Storm Ciarán was named and tracked towards Ireland and on 12 November, Met Éireann named Storm Debi, which was forecast to make landfall in Ireland on Monday 13 November, tracking from the south west to the north east. This system developed rapidly off Ireland's south-west coast. Storm Debi was characterised as an extremely fast-forming and complex system with the potential for dangerous wind speeds and rainfall.

During these weather events, there was extensive flooding throughout east Cork, along with other parts of the country. In Midleton, the Owenacurra river rose at an unprecedented rate and broke its banks at two locations causing flood damage to the town with more than 100 properties flooded. At its peak, Midleton Main Street saw floodwaters of approximately 1 m depth. The script is wrong. It should read Sunday, 12 and Monday, 13 October. I apologise for that.

It should be noted that significant resources were deployed in response to the flooding across the country involving local authority staff, firefighters, Civil Defence volunteers, members of An Garda Síochána, Defence Force personnel and the Irish Coast Guard with appropriate response vehicles and equipment. I take this opportunity to thank all of those who worked in dangerous and challenging conditions to assist home and business owners, rescue those who were trapped by the extreme floodwaters and those who are now involved in the clean-up and restoration phase post incident. It is across the spectrum. The usual stakeholders were involved: the Civil Defence, the local authority, the fire brigade, the HSE and volunteers. What I saw in Midleton was exemplary and there was extensive community action as well.

When there is an unprecedented weather event, such as the flooding we witnessed, all available resources are deployed to assist the impacted communities during all phases of the event. This can be hugely resource intensive, both in terms of crews on the ground, be they fire or other services.

My colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is acutely aware of the extreme hardship this has caused in many parts of the country as a result of recent flooding, and the constraints on local government at this time. With this in mind, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has sought Exchequer funding specifically to assist impacted local authorities with exceptional expenditure directly associated with the recent flood response.

A circular has issued to every chief executive in the country, inviting them to make an application with relevant details of the exceptional costs and current expenditure incurred by the local authority in respect of flood response activities. Eligible costs are envisaged to include a variety of areas. A business case may be made for any other costs considered exceptional. As always, the Department will continue to work with local authorities in this regard.

While my Department's focus is on the local authority and its response, officials from the Department also liaised with both the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to request them to activate both of their humanitarian schemes.

The Department of Social Protection's humanitarian flood response scheme supports households affected by the flooding. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment supports small businesses, sports clubs and community and voluntary organisations unable to secure flood insurance and affected by the flooding. Both of these schemes were activated in response to events in Midleton and east Cork and other relevant locations.

Deputy Pat Buckley

The Civil Defence, the Garda, local councils and everybody else were amazing. It must be acknowledged that the emergency payments to households and businesses have been very well received. It is still a crap show down there at the moment. I will be lucky to have my office open for Christmas but it is only an office and people's homes, businesses and lives have been deeply affected. I think there is a public meeting next Tuesday. People want to know what the plan is going forward. We cannot predict everything. There is no certainty, but is there going to be a plan? We hope the so-called new flood warning system is to be rolled out in the near future. Will there be a system? The Minister of State heard what I relayed in my opening statement from one of the witnesses. We do not have anywhere to go. Even as a public representative, when I met with the municipal district officer last week and asked him who I turn to and who is going to be the co-ordinator if this hits again I was told that there is nobody. Is it possible to support local and county councils to come up with a contingency plan, even a basic emergency number if an event like this happens again in the near future? I hope it never does, but at least we as public representatives and those who work for the council and county council will have an avenue to follow if the crap hits again. We need to get a plan in place because on the Sunday I had to ring two different Garda stations to get through to an area engineer to try to get sandbags released from Collins Barracks because the demand was so high. Unfortunately, that could not be done. We had volunteers and companies that donated all of this, which was fabulous, but we need a contingency plan for the future. How could we push this forward?

Deputy Kieran O'Donnell

I thank Deputy Buckley for the opportunity to discuss this issue. All public representatives, including him, are dealing with this on the ground. When an emergency like that arises, the Department and the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management co-ordinates the immediate response, which is an emergency response.

The Department of Social Protection is providing funding to households, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is providing funding to businesses. Those systems are up and running. Furthermore, the local authorities themselves will make proposals on interim measures and work in conjunction with the OPW.

On the question the Deputy is posing, there is a system in place to deal with emergencies like that in Midleton. What occurred happened in such a dramatic fashion and services kicked in. It was a very difficult time, particularly for the businesses and the residents. However, there are structures in place. If the Deputy has thoughts on what he feels would be an enhancement, I suggest he make them known to my Department. It is obviously under the remit of the OPW, but more particularly local authorities, whose staff are on the ground. One is always seeking to enhance but there are structures to deal with the emergency response, involving all the stakeholders. It is a very traumatic time for the people of Midleton, particularly coming up to Christmas. When I was there, the people's resolve was unquestionable. I pay tribute to the people themselves and the providers of the services that kicked in. I was in the town for a day and the people were amazing.