Independent inquiry not ruled out into floods

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has not ruled out an independent inquiry into the response to the torrential flooding and severe weather conditions that crippled the country in recent months.

Speaking at an Environment Committee meeting Mr Gormley said, however, any inquiry would depend on an Oireachtas Committee’s own investigations and recommendations, which are expected to be completed by the end of this month.

The Green Party leader also told TDs that any scrutiny of how authorities reacted to the massive flooding in places like Cork and Athlone needed to compare the response with other countries and suggested this was also true when it came to how state-authorities handled the huge snowfall and lethal icy conditions in January.

“I’m not ruling out any such inquiry. It would be wrong to prejudge the outcome of this committee.”

The minister said his department was carrying out a separate review of the emergency coordinated response to the flooding.

“I’ve asked officials to be as self critical as possible. If there were gaps in the response, let’s see what they are.”

Labour’s local government spokesman Ciarán Lynch questioned the communication between the ESB and Cork City Council on November 19 about operations at Inniscarra dam, the night before the city was flooded.

The amount of water being released by the dam had nearly doubled in a number of hours but no contact had been made with city officials, he said.

The TD said the committee’s own inquiries would not have the expertise of engineers and weather experts which an independent inquiry would.

Fine Gael Senator Jerry Buttimer also called for funds for early flooding warning systems, stressing it was lucky nobody had been killed. He added: “Forget the hyperbole, the bull, we need answers.”

Party colleague and TD James Bannon said many families had still not returned to their homes in the midlands.

His calls for a united Shannon River authority to oversee water works there was dismissed by the minister as another potential quango.

Mr Gormley strongly defended the emergency response to the flooding and snowfall.

Pointing to the fact Ireland now had 150 snowploughs compared to just two in 1982, he said most national roads were kept open during the icy conditions and transport services, emergency response teams and hospitals had continued to operate.

Some 10,000 kilometres of road had been gritted every day and over 60,000 tonnes of salt had also been spread.