I thank the Ministers of State for being here. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, in particular for his visits to Wexford to view the devastation, particularly in Enniscorthy. I met him there last April when we sought to devise a new plan after the rejection, on environmental grounds, of the-----

Sentiment score: -0.09

I am sorry. I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "with a view to supporting these families": "; further notes that the increase in storm severity and recent floods are the result of accelerating climate change; and further calls on the Government to: — resource local authorities to hire more general operatives to ensure staff are in place to maintain and clear drains, culverts and ditches, and respond quickly to weather events; — provide grants to local authorities to purchase emergency flood prevention equipment like Aqua Dams, and deploy strategic local reserves of sandbags to at-risk communities; — introduce a national flood warning system and overhaul our emergency preparedness and response systems, implementing best practise from international comparators; — place the Emergency Humanitarian Flooding Scheme for businesses and community organisations on a permanent statutory footing, as was committed to in 2023, after flooding in north Louth; — introduce a national Flood Re scheme, modelled on the United Kingdom system, to provide re-insurance to the increasing number of homes and businesses denied coverage even when flood defences are in place; and — reform the Office of Public Works, to give it a stronger statutory role in climate mitigation and flood prevention works.". The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and I met in Enniscorthy last April to outline, in conjunction with the Office of Public Works, OPW, the plans for a new application for a flood relief scheme that is so badly needed by the people of Enniscorthy. For decades, this town has suffered. I will not say that it has been affected on an annual basis, but it has been affected regularly. I know Joe Berney of Berney Saddlery Limited, which is located on the quay in Enniscorthy and which has been flooded 16 times. That is devastating. There is one matter I would like to raise. Perhaps the Minister of State could investigate it. Why are all the State-operated water level and tide gauges not on the same portal? WaterLevel.ie is operated by the OPW and the Marine Institute operates its real-time observations in respect of tidal issues. This type of siloed thinking, where the OPW looks after inland areas and the Marine Institute looks after the sea, is a perfect example of how we need to bring this together. Enniscorthy is tidal up as far as the bridge from Wexford Harbour, but then the River Slaney comes into it. Two different agencies appear to be operating the portals relating to tide levels and gauges. That is something we need to investigate, particularly in a place like Enniscorthy, which is essentially covered by both. Enniscorthy was the focal point of the flooding in Wexford. We all saw the devastation there but we also, as the Minister of State knows, saw devastation in Bunclody, where many houses were flooded, Bridgetown, which flooded in the past and was flooded again, and Kilmore and Our Lady's Island, places that have seen flooding. It is 60 years since Bunclody was flooded. Bridgetown was flooded only a few years ago. It was badly flooded on Christmas Day, which brought devastation. We saw Our Lady's Island lake overflow this on this occasion. In Kilmore, some local businesses suffered badly as a result of the flooding. Our amendment calls for extra resources to be given to local authorities to hire additional general operatives in order to ensure that staff are in place to maintain and clear drains, culverts and ditches and respond quickly to weather events. I have spoken to the Minister of State about this and about providing grants to local authorities to purchase the emergency flood protection equipment such as the aqua dams. Thankfully, following the Minister of State's intervention, Westmeath County Council supplied an aqua dam to Enniscorthy. These should be available in every town and village and operated by the fire service on behalf of local authorities. They could be stored in local authority depots and deployed very quickly when there is a threat of flooding. We have enough instrumentation and information at this point to ensure that we have foreknowledge of when flooding is likely to happen. We need these interim measures. We absolutely need a permanent solution for Enniscorthy but, for the other areas, we need to have interim or mitigation measures to allow people to be protected from flood waters. In Wexford town, we are affected by coastal flooding. The aqua barriers or dams to which I refer are readily available. One tonne sandbags and other types of sandbags are made available long in advance of any flooding arriving. Wexford County Council did its best, and nothing could have prevented the devastation that happened in Enniscorthy, even if we had received word in advance. We need to look at our warning systems. In Enniscorthy, where the flow of water from the River Slaney was devastating, there are people who are seasoned when it comes to their properties being flooded and who could have tried to get some of their equipment, furnishings, etc., to higher ground. Instead, they were battling against the tide as they strove to save some of their property. This has been going on for far too long, as we know, but now is not the time to be battling each other. We need to work together and offer a unified front at local authority and at Government level in order to ensure that whatever measures are necessary are taken to stop this type of devastation, which happens almost on an annual basis in places in my county, from happening once and for all.

Sentiment score: -0.03