Cabinet must show leadership following devastating floods

NOT surprisingly, as the Government meets in Cabinet session today to draw up a flood emergency strategy, the despairing prayer on the lips of those struggling to keep flood waters at bay is that their terrifying ordeal will never happen again.

While such sentiments are understandable, they are unrealistic given the total lack of an overall strategy worthy of the name. There is also a feeling that nobody is really in charge of the present crisis, a point made forcefully yesterday by the Church of Ireland bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross.

According to Bishop Paul Colton, who has visited flood victims in the Co Cork towns of Mallow and Midleton, there is no evidence of overall national co-ordination in the emergency response to flood victims. In a damning comment, he said: “I’ve heard of the National Co-ordination Committee, and I am sure they are working away. But one would like to see the signs of it in local areas. I saw emergency services, council workers, and local politicians, lots of people doing the hard work. But people were looking for somebody who was in overall charge. There seemed to be little co-ordination, little sense that someone was in charge… someone with an overview.”