Taoiseach meets victims as he says there's no 'magic wand' to deliver flood protection schemes

Micheál Martin was in Enniscorthy on Monday to see the damage caused by last week's flooding

Taoiseach Micheál Martin meets Maryellen McNamara (right) and John McNamara (centre) whose home was damaged in the recent flooding. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

Taoiseach Micheál Martin says he “cannot wave a magic wand" to deliver flood protection schemes, as under-siege communities are set to spend the remainder of the week fearing the next deluge.

There are fears high tides later this week could bring further flooding to areas that were devastated by Storm Chandra.

The Government has brought in 30 to 40m-long aqua-dams as a temporary measure to help communities in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, who are at risk of additional flooding.

But in Midleton, Co Cork, which experienced serious flooding in 2023, the community says they are still years away from having proper protections, and they live in dread of the next downpour.

A yellow rain warning is in place on Monday night for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork and Waterford. A further warning is in place for Dublin, Louth and Wicklow from Tuesday morning. 

Multiple roads across Cork city  were closed on Monday evening before high tide as flooding hit low-lying quays in the city centre.

The National Emergency Coordination Group (NECG) has warned rain will fall on saturated ground where river levels are high, with high tides expected this week. This may lead to further flooding along rivers and in coastal areas.

In Enniscorthy, where he surveyed the damage caused by last week’s storm, the Taoiseach vowed measures would be put in place to help local communities while permanent flood protection schemes make their way through the planning process.

There are 100 flood schemes going through the system and the Government will do “everything [it] can to accelerate [the applications] with the local authority”, he said.

The Taoiseach also said the Midleton scheme was “going to take time”, and interim measures were in place and helping people.

“The planning rules have to be gone through,” he said. “There is new legislation coming forward, the arterial drainage legislation, which we passed about three weeks ago, that will help in terms of numbers of schemes and accelerating the schemes themselves.

We'll do everything we can to speed up the progress of a scheme going through the planning process, and the design and development works itself.

“These are very comprehensive schemes. I'm not going to try and pretend that one can wave a magic wand and just deliver them.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin looks out over the River Slaney as he meets families affected by the recent flooding on Island Road during a visit to Enniscorthy.

Senior minister and the NECG will meet on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of localised weather warning systems.

There will also be an incorporeal Cabinet meeting to discuss the recent flooding and assistance schemes.

The Taoiseach spent over an hour meeting locals in Enniscorthy on Monday and seeing the damage done to homes.

On Island Road, he entered the house of 90-year-old John McNamara. His sister, Sarah Thompson, said her brother was forced to rip up the floors himself after the flooding. The fire was still blazing in the living room in a desperate bid to dry the room.

Mr McNamara’s other sister, Helena, said the Taoiseach was doing “photo opportunities” before she asked him: “Should I expect wonders from you now that you’re after coming?”

She also called for glass walls to be constructed at the back of the homes, like what has been done in Waterford, as she expressed concerns flooding schemes were being held up by fresh mussel pearls in the River Slaney.

“This is family. We are more important than a pearl [in the River Slaney],” she said.

Ms McNamara continued: “You’re a Cork man, aren’t you? You’re forever getting flooded.

“I need you out there now. You are not just fighting for this county. You are fighting for your own.”

Mr Martin also came under fire in Cork from locals fearful of what the weather might bring this week.

Gleann Fia Residents Association secretary Vivienne Jeffers in the east Cork village of Mogeely said communities affected by the recent floods and her own community affected by the 2023 Storm Babet want actions not words or "broken promises".

Cork County Council announced its Midleton and East Cork Individual Property Protection (IPP) Scheme in October 2024, and said delivery of the scheme - which involves supplying and fitting removable door and window barriers - would begin in early 2025.

The then minister of state with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Kieran O’Donnell, announced €5.8m in funding to the council for the installation of flood barriers to 920 homeowners and businesses impacted by Storm Babet in 2023.

Yet at last October’s second anniversary of the storm, few of the barriers needed had actually been fitted.

“The path to proper flood relief or even basic flood mitigation measures is one constantly blocked by broken promises, endless delays and utter frustration,” Ms Jeffers said.

“For some reason, we just don’t seem to be able to - as a country - get things done in anything approaching a timely manner.

“When Storm Babet hit Midleton and villages like Mogeely in 2023, there was much hand-wringing by politicians all the way up to Micheál Martin.

“But more than two years on, we still have some way to go before basic systems are in place to deal with another flood of the sort we experienced.

“We all feel the pain of those affected by the latest flash floods, but if our experience is anything to go by, they could well end up getting the same sort of political back rubbing we fell for back in the day."

She said communities affected by flooding all around the country do not need kind words from politicians, or the Taoiseach.

"It is hard action and hard action now. As we have discovered in Cork, flooding gets the attention while it is still fresh in people’s minds.

“But those new areas affected will soon discover that it is simply not being taken as seriously as an issue as it should be.

“There have been calls for a public flood warning system for more than 20 years.

“Yet, here we are, still reacting to events happening rather than proactively preparing for what climatologists and weather scientists around the world have been warning us about for years.”