An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-04
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Nicole Ryan (SF), Administrative Panel

I want to raise the issue of flooding and the State’s response to it. What we have seen in Enniscorthy and the surrounding areas in recent days has been horrific. People’s homes have been destroyed, their livelihoods wiped out and families left traumatised. I genuinely hope the Government steps in quickly and meaningfully to support those affected because people cannot be left to pick up the pieces on their own.
However, this disaster opens a much wider and more uncomfortable conversation about how the State responds to flooding in this country. Ireland has a wet climate - that is not news to anybody. Heavy rainfall is not an unexpected event yet time and again flooding is treated as a surprise and something that needs to be reacted to rather than planned for. Too often it feels like when the flooding is a little too close to home or too close to Dublin the carpets are rolled out but when it happens elsewhere communities are left waiting. When Storm Éowyn hit the west, Connemara was devastated. Places like Clifden and Carna suffered enormous damage yet those communities waited months for proper meaningful assistance. The urgency just was not there. We see the pattern elsewhere. Cork city floods regularly. We know it will flood yet time and again there is a last-minute scramble to protect the city rather than having long-term resilient solutions. Look at Midleton. Although the relief scheme is finally being put in place, it will take years to implement. It is full of interim measures at the moment.
The Minister for housing sought to blame Met Éireann but, with respect, kids in glass houses should not throw stones. The real question is to ask why the Government has failed to put in proper comprehensive flood relief schemes in places across the country. This is no longer just a coastal issue. Even dense inland areas are now expecting flooding. In my own area of Millstreet, which is well inland, we are beginning to see repeated flooding events affecting people’s homes. This would have been unthinkable years ago. Flooding is not a once-off emergency. It is the reality of climate change and it demands proper planning, investment and fairness across the whole country. I am calling on the Leader to ask the Government to have a debate in this House on flooding, flooding preparedness and unequal response experienced by communities across the State. People deserve better than reactive policies when their homes and their lives are at risk.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-04/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:35+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-04