Local Fine Gael TD James Bannon walked out of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Heritage & Local Government on Tuesday, in protest at the Government’s failure to set up a river Shannon authority to ensure that flooding will not devastate housing, farming, business, and tourism in the Midlands again.
“With many people in the Midlands region having been forced to leave their homes and livelihoods destroyed by flooding, I am refusing to travel to Cork with the Environment Committee to meet with the city and county managers to address the problems of the Cork area, while Longford/Westmeath is overlooked.
“I want to see the same opportunity afforded to the people of the Midlands with meetings arranged for the chairpersons and managers of each of the regions of Longford/Westmeath, Laois/Offaly and Roscommon with the Taoiseach and Ministers for Environment and Transport.
“When the Environment Committee and the Minister affords the same privilege to the Midlands and arranges to assess the damage in the region, then and only then, will I travel to other areas of flood damage,” he said.
The TD said that while the Midlands had been hit with the same, if not greater, ferocity as the Cork area, the Government is responding to the severe weather conditions with “total lack of parity”.
“In addition to housing, land and silage have been destroyed, leading to a loss of income for the already hard-pressed farming sector.
“The Minister must attend the next Environment Meeting to outline what plans he has in place to set up a Shannon authority. The Shannon is in many ways the lifeblood of the Midlands but unless properly managed under the control of one authority, it could become its ruin.
“There is a history of response to flooding by the Minister and his department based on producing reports, which have not been followed by action.
“This is not acceptable. The Shannon water levels must be regulated and the adverse actions of the ESB and other agents mitigated. Desilting must be carried out immediately.
“I want the Minister for the Environment and the Taoiseach to be accountable to the people of Longford/Westmeath. I want them to urgently afford the same level of response to the Midlands as to other parts of the country.”
