There is no shortage of stories of official inaction, but the national response committee points to its successes
INSIDE THE grey, windowless room, surrounded by more than a dozen officials from Government and State agencies, there is a palpable sense of relief.
Maps of flooded areas, flat-screen monitors with updates on weather forecasts and scribbled instructions on white-boards hint at the devastation which has affected swathes of the country.
This afternoon, in the meeting room of the Government's Emergency Response Co-ordinating Committee, the updates indicate that things are moving in the right direction. Flood waters are receding, key pieces of infrastructure have survived and the emergency is beginning to abate. For now, at least.
"We've tried to either prevent flooding or mitigate it as best we can," says Seán Hogan (52), the calmly spoken chair of the committee and also national director for fire and emergency services. "Where things have happened, we've tried to co-ordinate and support what's happening on the ground . . . These floods have caused huge distress and misery for people."
He's not wrong. But to anyone who has lost their home, livelihood or possessions, it seemed as if the Government was doing a good imitation of Nero fiddling as Rome burned.
There is no shortage of stories of inaction or apparent indifference by officialdom on the ground. There are the villages who say they were forced to fend for themselves; others talk of being stranded to fend off raging floodwater with just a few sandbags.
Security analyst Dr Tom Clonan has described the response of Government as a "textbook failure in strategic planning, co-ordinated emergency response and basic political communication".
Hogan accepts many areas have been terribly affected - but he also insists there have been quiet success stories. A co-ordinated effort played a key role in preventing several towns from being flooded and helped maintain critical pieces of infrastructure like water supply and roads, he says.
Take Carrick-on-Shannon. The water-works in the area supply drinking water to about 11,000 people, or a third of Co Leitrim. Just over a week ago, with water-levels rising, it was perilously close to succumbing at one point.
"Everyone worked together. There was input from the ESB to try to manage water levels, the OPW helped with banking around the plant and putting in high-volume water pumps. If we needed more, they were available from Northern Ireland."
In Athy, early warnings over rising water levels and sand-bagging by the Defence Forces saved much of the town;
in Ballinasloe, the main road to Galway was kept open by mobilising gardaí, emergency services and the National
Roads Authority. "We're not using a long spanner to micro-manage what's happening on the ground. Our job is to ensure all elements of government are on hand to support efforts on the ground."
For all their efforts, though, it's clear the floods caught many off-guard.
Local authorities appeared totally unprepared in some circumstances to deal with the floods. The accuracy of some Met Éireann forecasts have also been called into question. The lack of communication from the ESB over the release of water was another major issue.
Hogan is careful not criticise any agency in particular, but accepts in general that communication wasn't particularly good at the start.
"We saw early on that getting information to the public wasn't working well and that we had to improve the information flow . . . I think people were responding without really seeing this as an essential part of what they were doing. I think we helped that as we went along."
As time went on, there was a sense within the committee that the emergency response was working well and helping to address key deficits. It also played a key role in co-ordinating and managing how supplementary welfare schemes for flood victims would be rolled out across the State.
"In any situation like this, you have to prioritise saving lives first, followed by critical infrastructure and property," says Hogan.
"Our main focus at the start was rescue operations. We forget that people were in very real danger. Thankfully, no one has been lost."
There is a sense of relief. The focus in the meantime switches to recovery operations and preventive measures - as well as learning some harsh lessons from the past two turbulent weeks.