Storm Chandra: Housing minister accused of avoiding responsibility by blaming Met Éireann

'The long-suffering people of Enniscorthy deserve much better than this. When a minister in control of agencies and departments with direct responsibility will not take responsibility for their portfolios, what hope do they have?' Picture: Patrick Browne

The minister for housing has been accused of avoiding responsibility for tackling flooding following his critical comments about Met Éireann's role in alerting the public about Storm Chandra's potential damage.

James Browne on Wednesday said he would be seeking a meeting with Met Éireann to ascertain if people in Enniscorthy could have been warned earlier that their premises were under threat. 

Enniscorthy in his Wexford constituency bore the worst of the flooding caused by Storm Chandra.

"I'm really frustrated that some State agencies seem to think that it's their duty to somehow withhold information," Mr Browne told Alan Corcoran on South East Radio's Morning Mix.

"I don't know whether there was a possibility of an earlier warning in this particular situation, and I'll let Met Éireann defend themselves in that respect, if they can. But what I will say is, in general, I think Met Éireann do have to step up their communication.

"We will be bringing Met Éireann in and saying there needs to be an understanding here that information is not to be guarded. Information is to be put out there, and we need to do a much better job of communications."

He claimed the current colour-based warning system had not worked and he had had to "crack heads" on the issue of flood warnings when he took office a year ago.

In the Dáil on Thursday, Mr Browne's constituency colleague, Labour's George Lawlor, said Mr Browne had blamed both Met Éireann and Wexford County Council, but had not taken responsibility.

"Incredibly today, on the same radio station, the same minister, who also has responsibility for local government, issued a statement effectively blaming Wexford County Council for the lack of a planning application for a new flood relief scheme."

Last April, a meeting in Enniscorthy had laid out new flood relief scheme plans to public representatives and Wexford County Council officials by the Office of Public Works (OPW), he said.

"The long-suffering people of Enniscorthy deserve much better than this. When a minister in control of agencies and departments with direct responsibility will not take responsibility for their portfolios, what hope do they have? I ask for the Tánaiste’s direct intervention to resolve this dreadful ongoing nightmare for the homeowners and businesses of Enniscorthy."

Tánaiste Simon Harris said Mr Browne was "certainly not blaming Met Éireann".

"We had a yellow rain warning. That is not a criticism of Met Éireann. We need to see how we can all work together, including local authorities, Met Éireann, the OPW and the Government, at a time when we are seeing more frequent adverse weather events."

In a statement, Met Éireann said: “As a line division of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Met Éireann is focused on our role of monitoring, analysing and predicting Ireland’s weather, climate and flooding, and supporting emergency planning responses to weather events, such as Storm Chandra. 

"As such, our services, operations and engagement with all stakeholders are always evolving to meet current and future needs.”

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