In County Kilkenny, communities like Inistioge, Thomastown, Callan and Graiguenamanagh endured severe flooding during the recent extreme weather. It will take weeks to clear the damage and who knows how long to repair the destruction inflicted on local roads. This flooding has hit local families and businesses the hardest. It is very hard to tell how many of these businesses and restaurants will be able to recover from this devastation. What is certain is that a very challenging period lies ahead. In Inistioge, the pitch at the GAA club was submerged under 6 ft. of water. In Thomastown, heavy rainfall is causing part of the quay to collapse and over time it is slowly being pulled into the river. In Graiguenamanagh, it is expected that flood defence works will take nine years. How is that acceptable? In Carlow, the banks of the River Barrow overflowed causing stress and unnecessary damage throughout the area. Plans for dredging have been held up by the national planning body. These delays are having a devastating impact on families along the River Barrow. These essential maintenance works must be made a priority before further heavy rain causes the river to overflow its banks again. This rain and the resulting flooding have devastated our local roads. The roads in south Kilkenny are particularly bad. At a local meeting the other evening, the community voiced its frustration at the lack of progress. It is now estimated that the cost to repair the roads will be around €7 million, a massive sum for Carlow County Council. All of these people pay their taxes and all of them pay road tax, yet they see very little coming back to resurface our rural roads. We need central government to step in and provide this much-needed support to the council. The Government has announced over €100 million for flood defence works. This cannot be like so many other Government announcements where the funding has been left sitting idle for years. The manpower is there. The local councils need the funding and they need it now.

Sentiment score: -0.19