I thank the Minister of State for being here to listen to the statements. For my part, flooding is something that happens occasionally. It is usually from the sea rather than rivers in my area but it is the impact and aftermath of flooding. The state of the roads in north County Dublin is shocking. They are the kinds of words people use. If you come around by an area like Blake's Cross, you will often see tyres and parts of tyres on the side. Added to that situation, which was already bad, we then had flooding on top of it. It is an area that floods all the time. You could set your watch by it. When there is heavy rain, there is flooding at Blake's Cross. There just does not seem to be any connectedness in regard to what happens after the flooding and once the water recedes. In the recent flooding, we were very lucky. Yes, it blocked roads but it did not get into many homes. I know from talking to Deputy Buckley and others the damage and devastation that it can bring to a community but we are still left dealing with the aftermath of it in one way or another because we are dealing with the fact that the roads are in such poor condition immediately following it. Every single time there is a flood, that means the roads are going to get even worse and there is no mitigation. If there was going to be proper drainage put in place, all of that could be encompassed within a budget to not just drain the roads but also improve the quality of the roads and recognise the damage. Every single time there is flooding, the Minister of State and I both know that the aftermath of that for people in their homes is absolutely devastating but the aftermath of that for people who are driving on the roads, because they have no choice, is also devastating. If you take Brook Lane in Rush, I know in advance when that is going to flood. The residents know in advance that it is going to flood. They might not know how bad it is going to be but they know it is going to flood and it happens every time. This time when it happened, it was particularly bad and there were people, including emergency service workers, who were stuck in their homes, which has a knock-on consequence. What I want to say to the Minister of State today is that when the flood waters recede and you are no longer up to your knees or elbows in the flood, the damage that happens after that also requires attention. It is not just all about making sure the floods recede. We need to look at the national flood forecasting and warning service as well because at least that can give people a little bit of a heads-up. We know rightly that it is a scandal that the millions of euro allocated for the national flood forecasting and warning service over the past eight years remains unspent. That does not make any sense. It does not make any sense to me but it most definitely does not make any sense to people who can tell you that if they have a warning, they will be able to put those systems in place. I would be critical, where it is due, of Fingal County Council but it has always been good in regard to the provision of sandbags and other mitigation measures. That is of no use to people, however, if they do not get the advance warning. On the advance warning, it is very hard to explain to people how the money was allocated and yet, somehow, the Department could not find its way to spend it. People might be able to understand if it was a budgetary matter. They might be able to comprehend it if it was a case of insufficient funds allocated but in regard to the money being allocated and not being spent, that is very hard for me to explain to my constituents when they look at the flood events and they see they cannot use their roads or, as I have said to the Minister of State, when they have to use the roads afterwards amid the damage. The key surely has to be preventing this flood damage but the fact that the State has money at its disposal and millions of euro allocated, and that somehow it is not being spent, does not make any sense. I certainly do not try to explain the actions of this Government - I am beyond doing that - but when you try to tell constituents who are in flood-impacted areas that, yes, it is possible that a system could have been developed but was not developed, that is very hard for them to stomach.

Sentiment score: -0.12