I want to raise the emergency affecting communities across this island as a result of the fallout from Storm Chandra. A friend sent a photo of a woman's car floating in her driveway in south Dublin. Enniscorthy looks like a lake and the M50 was closed due to flooding earlier. There are power cuts, battered homes, stalled commutes and flooded homes. It is nearly a week to the day since the Government voted down a Labour Party motion on flexible and remote work, one that put forward practical ways of addressing the real difficulties so many people face due to congestion on our roads. Those difficulties were absolutely exacerbated today due to weather. People who are sleeping rough and in tents due to failures in housing are particularly vulnerable in storms and, of course, it is a year since the devastation of Storm Éowyn. Our thanks go to front-line workers fixing the mess. What does the Government have to offer households which will be struggling to meet their bills and to cope with the storm’s impact? What urgent support can be given to restore amenities, being conscious that local authorities have seen staff numbers falling and therefore have a shortage of staff to deal with the fallout?

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