Parlon giving ‘useless advice’ to those in flood areas
The Green Party accused Office of Public Works Minister Tom Parlon of patronising families who fear their homes are about to be swept by flooding.
Comments made by the Minister urging people in risk zones not to lay good carpet on the ground floor and remove valuables upstairs were seized upon by the opposition as evidence of the Government’s “blasé” attitude.
With concern rising in Dublin and across the country over the threat of winter flash floods, Green TD John Gormley, insisted action is needed to pour money into shoring-up defences, not advice on carpet quality.
“I think people will be quite alarmed by Mr Parlon’s blasé approach to this issue.
“It’s a pretty useless piece of advice. Telling people not to put down a good carpet on the ground floor will lead many people to believe he’s saying ‘floods are coming, sort yourselves out’.
“That’s not good enough. What they want is protection from those floods,” Mr Gormley said.
The spat came as fears grew in South Dublin that the Dodder is about to burst its banks.
“There seems to be no sense of urgency about the Minister’s approach.
“Dublin City Council knows what needs to be done, all it needs now is the money, but Minister Parlon has not been so forthcoming when it comes to the cash,” the Green Party president said.
Last night, Mr Parlon said: “Of course we are not blase about the problem. The simple fact is that many people are not aware of the basic procedures they can take which would help them in the event of flooding. Yes, some of them may seem obvious, but on past evidence they still need to be reiterated to people. Moving valuables upstairs is a case in point as some people in areas prone to flooding keep valuables on the floor of the ground floor, not just in ground floor rooms.”
Mr Parlon said the government was also putting a large amount of resources into flood defences across the country and took the threat from flooding extremely seriously.
Mr Gormley also attacked the Government for spending money on “blindingly obvious” radio adverts warning about winter floods without providing the finances to build defences and protect homes.
The ads tell people they are at risk of floods if they live in an area which has been flooded in the past, if flood concerns are being raised locally, if houses are in a low lying area and near open water or if Ordnance Survey maps indicate flooding is liable.
“What good is it advising people to use sandbags in the event of flooding?
“As I know from working with constituents who have suffered this, by the time you get the sandbags it’s far too late.
“It would seem, once again, that this is an exercise in spin by a Government trying to give the impression that it is doing something about flooding and global warming, when in fact it is doing very little indeed,” Mr Gormley said.
