Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council received hundreds of calls because of flooding in Newtownsmith, along the DART lines and so on. I thank the council workers, both the indoor council workers and the outdoor teams, who had to go out and respond to this. It highlights the chronic underfunding of our local authorities. Ireland is at the lowest level of funding in the European league table by a mile due to the underfunding of outdoor crews and local authorities generally. For decades, we have identified the problem of floodwater, rainwater and seawater mixing with sewerage in our area when the rains come in. The infrastructure has not been put in and the money has not been forthcoming. In Newtownsmith, where there was massive flooding, a gully was taken out about three decades ago. That is the reason all of Newtownsmith was flooded. Everybody knows it. The money has not been allocated to put in a gully which would allow the seawater to flow back out again. I agree with a lot in this motion but I think Deputy Tóibín should reconsider the criticisms he made of forecasting by Met Éireann and orange weather warnings, given what he is now saying. I do not agree that submissions on flood protection schemes should be limited to people who have a material interest or are locally based. Should experts on flood defences and climatology, for example, not have the right to put in a submission? Of course they should. Part of the problem is that we are not listening to the experts or Met Éireann. We should start listening to them.

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