Details of flood relief programme to come next week

Details of a Government relief programme to deal with widespread flooding will be given next week, the Minister of State for the Environment, Mr Robert Molloy, told the Dail.

Announcing the package of measures, agreed at yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Mr Molloy said it would be generous.

Speaking during a Special Notice debate on the floods, he resisted repeated demands by Opposition deputies for an estimate of the amount being considered.

He said it would not be practical to give an amount until after all the flood waters had receded and the full extent of damage was known. The Government would try to make the system as simple as possible for people so that there would be no undue delays. However, he said it was public money which they were dealing with and the Government could not be "cavalier" about the way it was spent.

Mr Molloy said they were working out the details, and all aspects of the situation would be taken into consideration. The measures would be worked out in co-operation with the local authorities and the Office of Public Works, which were assessing the situation.

He said flood waters in most areas had begun receding, but there was now severe flooding in Carlow, which had been unexpected.

Some local authorities had activated emergency plans on Sunday afternoon, he said, paying tribute to them and to the emergency services, Army and Civil Defence.

The Minister said there would be discussions with representatives of the relevant departments to see what lessons could be learned for the revision of the emergency management plan.

Fine Gael's environment spokesman, Mr Ivan Yates (Wexford), pointed to the devastation in his constituency and asked if the local authorities would be funded as part of the package for the repair of bridges, roads and walkways. He also called for the scheme to include people who had been put out of their homes because of the flooding.

The party leader, Mr John Bruton, said hydrological and hydrographical expertise should be available to local authorities so that housing schemes would not be developed in flood-risk areas. He said that on the same day that Dunboyne, Co Meath, was flooded the local council had agreed to rezone 170 acres for housing.

Mr Molloy pointed out that the Planning Act, recently passed by the Oireachtas, included provision for the refusal of planning permissions in flood-risk areas.

The Minister also said the situation was very serious for many people. The local authorities had been asked to assess the situation in their areas and bridges would be examined to ensure they were safe.

Labour's environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said the storms had been predicted for the previous week and did not happen suddenly. The Minister had said he was in touch with local authorities since Sunday but Mr Gilmore asked what contact he had had with them before that and what action they had taken in advance to clear water courses and ensure drains were operating properly.

He was concerned that the State had almost come to a stop and that "trains don't run, people can't get to work and roads are blocked every time there's a spell of bad weather".

Mr Trevor Sargent (Green, Dublin North) expressed concern that there were more and more people who could not get insurance because they lived in flood-risk areas. He also asked for the Minister's views on climate change, but Mr Molloy said he was not scientifically qualified and it would be unhelpful for him to expound on an issue on which scientists could not agree.

Ms Nora Owen (Fine Gael, Dublin North) said the National Roads Authority had to be questioned about the millions spent on new roads, guided by experts, which were blocked off because of flooding.

Mr Molloy said the NRA would be questioned about this. He experienced such a situation on the N4 at Maynooth where traffic was diverted on to the secondary road, the old main road, which was bone-dry.

Mr John Browne (Fianna Fail, Wexford) called for the Minister to ensure that the local authorities would make every effort to get people back into their houses as quickly as possible and to provide assistance for the removal of furniture and household items which were destroyed in the flooding, such as washing machines.

Mr John Browne (Fine Gael, Carlow-Kilkenny) raised an issue repeated by a number of deputies about flood-alleviation plants. He said Carlow had been waiting for five years for such a plan and in the interim there had been serious flooding twice.

The Minister agreed that in some cases flood-alleviation plants were still in the planning stages but where the schemes were in operation, "they have been practically 100 per cent successful".