TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen is expected to visit some areas of the south and west most severely affected by flooding today.
All other engagements for Mr Cowen were cancelled yesterday and plans were being made last night for him to travel to Galway, Clare, Tipperary and Cork. Large parts of the south and west are on alert, with further heavy rain expected this week.
Water supplies to about 80,000 people in Cork city are unlikely to be restored for at least a week after the flooding caused extensive damage to the city’s main pumping station, Cork city manager Joe Gavin warned yesterday.
In Co Galway, water levels are still high in Ballinasloe, Claregalway, Abbeyknockmoy, Craughwell, Gort and many smaller villages in the east, north and south of the county, while storm-force winds lashed coastal areas yesterday, causing some structural damage.
Mr Cowen said he expected planned industrial action by unions to take place tomorrow, but praised the commitment demonstrated by public servants and others in flooded areas.
“It appears to me there will be stoppages next Tuesday but in areas affected by this emergency situation let it be said that everyone’s working might and main to resolve the situation.
“There’s absolutely no question about the total commitment by all concerned, those in the public service, those in the emergency services, volunteers, local communities themselves.”
The Taoiseach was speaking at Government Buildings after a Cabinet meeting, mostly on budget issues, but during which Ministers were also briefed by a delegation from the taskforce on emergency planning.
The taskforce had met earlier in the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre in Agriculture House on Kildare Street. The ESB, Met Éireann, An Garda Síochána, Defence Forces, Office of Public Works, HSE, Coast Guard and various Government departments were represented.
Unions representing local authority workers in counties Cork, Clare and Galway, and some hospital staff in Cork, yesterday agreed to defer industrial action to work on recovery efforts. It is understood additional staff, such as community welfare officers and public health nurses, could also be exempted from strike action.
Mr Cowen said there had been some abatement of floods, but heavy rain was expected tonight and tomorrow. There was also concern about high swells coming in from the Atlantic to coastal areas of the west and southwest.
Asked if Government would put funding in place for those affected, Mr Cowen said: “All necessary resources for the purposes of the effort that’s ongoing day to day at the moment is proceeding – the resources are there in local authorities, health service, all the rest of it, to provide whatever’s required in the immediate term.”
The chairman of the taskforce on emergency planning, Seán Hogan, said the situation was generally abating around the country. “For some areas, believe me, where things aren’t necessarily abating there are still people with very severe problems, but in a number of areas . . . people have moved on to the clean-up.”
Minister for the Environment John Gormley said Cabinet had been briefed on the ESB’s controversial decision to release water from Inniscarra dam eight miles from Cork city.