I thank the Minister of State for being here for this debate. In fairness to him, he is not afraid to roll up his sleeves. He is passionate about trying to address this issue that has impacted so many communities. I too pay tribute to local authority staff and emergency services which have had to deal with these adverse weather events we face with increased regularity. I asked this question of representatives of the Department and Met Éireann when they were before the Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy and they indicated they work on the basis that we will have eight of these types of events every year. It will randomly impact the country. It is something we need to address. Support schemes need to be put on a statutory basis. It cannot be addressed every time we have one of these incidents. Learnings from previous events particularly around community hubs and making generators available are critical and need to be done. Storm Chandra had a particularly profound impact on the Wicklow-Wexford constituency I represent. I know the Minister of State was in Aughrim, County Wicklow, where the flooding was caused by water coming down from higher ground and running through the houses. Some of that may be about working with nature and adapting forestry practices but I am sure the Minister of State would join me in paying tribute to the work of Councillor Pat Kennedy and Aughrim Tidy Towns who were on the ground. It brought out in many ways the best in people to be able to respond to the crisis. Bunclody faced the first serious flooding in 60 years when the Slaney burst its banks. It was horrific visiting some of the homes and business impacted there. The concerns when I met Councillor Barbara-Anne Murphy and local residents were that a sufficient plan was not in place. The big challenge there for a lot of residents is while many had flood insurance until now, they will not get it again. We need to look at some sort of State guarantees until a permanent flood defence system is put in place in these communities. I would be grateful to hear the Minister's views on that. In the case of Castletown in north Wexford, on more than one occasion every year the River Ahare bursts its banks, making a road impassable. It is an issue Councillor Joe Sullivan has been raising regularly in terms of how to address this challenge. For this coastal community, it is cut off in many ways and people have to drive the long way round because the Ahare bursts its banks any time there is heavy rain. Coastal erosion is another huge issue. I am fortunate to represent a constituency that has arguably some of the finest beaches in the country, running from Brittas Bay in Wicklow down as far as Morriscastle in Wexford. Every time there is an adverse weather event, we see parts of our coast lost to the sea. On this occasion in the floods, the Rosslare rail line was closed again, not that it is a great service anyway. Part of it closed again as a result of the flooding. The knock-on impact was more cars travelling on the M11 but because there was flooding on the M11, counties Wicklow and Wexford were in many ways cut off by the impact. I would like to raise, as colleagues have raised, the impact these events have had on our roads, in particular rural roads. Many of the roads, which were in pretty poor condition, have been left impassable as a result of weather conditions and flooding that has happened. These include in areas around Woodenbridge, Shillelagh and Arklow, which the Minister of State is familiar with, but equally around places like Johnstown in north Wexford and crossing between the Wexford and Wicklow border. For Bearna Chlé National School, parents now have to travel the long way around to avoid craters that traverse the entire road. There is an application coming in quite soon from local authorities. It is critical that we provide sufficient funding. I am asking for it on behalf of Wicklow County Council and Wexford County Council to be able to address the problems with our roads as a result of these weather conditions.

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