Storm Chandra: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-10
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James Browne (FF), Wexford

I thank the Cathaoirleach and Senators very much for the invitation to be with them to discuss Storm Chandra and the extended and severe flooding events that followed in many parts of the country and to outline the whole-of-government response to the storm. I will start off by clearly stating on behalf of the Government that I recognise the very significant and very real impacts the latest storm event had on so many families and businesses and the level of distress that was caused. I am particularly attuned to this because people in my own County Wexford are very much seeing the impact first-hand. Many people I know personally were affected, and it has taken a horrendous toll on people. It is very important at the very outset of the discussion that we recognise the human impact these storms have on people.
I want to take time to review the weather event itself and, in particular, the lead-up to the weather event because what was experienced in the towns and villages that were most impacted over the last few weeks comes not just from the storm. Over the month of January 2026, Ireland, and in particular the east of the country, experienced rainfall well over what is considered the expected monthly average. In the week preceding the storm, the east of the country experienced more than four times the average amount of rainfall that would normally be expected. This level of rainfall had serious ramifications before the storm event. The land itself was intensely waterlogged and saturated, with no capacity to contain the excess rain that was continuously falling. I understand that our local authorities and councils, which are our first responders when it comes to severe weather events, were aware and were keeping a watching brief of all rising rivers in the days before the arrival of Storm Chandra and were also monitoring river levels.
The storm was named by the UK Met Office on Monday, 26 January 2026, and it was forecast to bring with it both high winds and heavy rain. The storm in and of itself would have been a manageable event. However, the storm was coupled with the already waterlogged and saturated ground and this brought with it the risk of river flooding along with flooding risk along floodplains, agricultural land and low-lying roads. I experienced first-hand the severe flooding in my home county of Wexford and what this meant not just in the days of the storm but in the aftermath, and it is continuing. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated flooding incident to one community or county. Also impacted were family homes and business in areas such as Aughrim in County Wicklow, south Dublin, Passage East in County Waterford, Graiguenamanagh in County Kilkenny and many other parts of the country. My thoughts are very much with all those families and business who are badly and deeply affected as the clean-up process continues. We in the Government want to do everything we can to help as quickly as possible.
There are two important points I especially want to cover this evening: the preparedness in advance of Storm Chandra and the response to the storm. In terms of preparedness, following Storm Éowyn, my Department, through its national directorate for fire and emergency management, undertook a wide-ranging review of our national response and moved to implement a number of key recommendations.
As part of this work we required all local authorities to submit their severe weather and flood plans. These plans were reviewed and a workshop took place to advise of best practice in relation to the development of these documents. Local authorities were tasked with reviewing and updating all plans as necessary and my Department will review these regularly going forward. This is essential and I will ensure it happens. It is not about how often we have storms or how severe they are; we must ramp up our readiness to respond to storms in the in-between times. That is why discussions like this one are an important use of our time. We have to reflect on our readiness and responses and how we can improve all the time. All local authorities reviewed their individual plans in advance of the 2025-2026 winter season, ensured necessary contracts were in place with contractors, that salt and sand stores were full and that gullies and culverts were cleared.
I met the national emergency co-ordination group in advance of this winter season to ensure that the plans were in place and that all sectors were prepared for the season ahead. I ensured a framework for the establishment of community support centres was put in place, along with a guidance document developed in conjunction with the local authority sector. As a result of these actions, community support centres were established in Donegal in the aftermath of Storm Bert and in Aughrim and Enniscorthy following Storm Chandra. Our community support centres provide a vital focal point in the community. They are aimed at providing safe, secure places where people can gather, charge phones and other devices, get hot drinks and food and receive information and advice. My Department, in conjunction with the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, will be funding the provision of a pool of generators for use by community support centres, as well as funding the costs associated with the installation of changeover switches, in pre-identified sites, for their safe use. This is all preparation carried out before this winter season commenced.
I will speak now about Storm Chandra itself and the key timelines associated with the storm and the response. First of all, a Met Éireann technical briefing was held on Monday, 26 January. The briefing was attended by local authorities, the principal response agencies, Departments, the utilities and other key and essential stakeholders. Those in attendance were updated on soil and river conditions and advised of the incoming weather. All stakeholders were advised to monitor rivers. They were also advised to follow the Met Éireann forecasts closely for updates and any changes to the forecast. Following persistent heavy rain and wind conditions overnight on 26 January, the national emergency co-ordination group was formally convened on 27 January. This role of the NECG is to get key decision-makers in the room and co-ordinate the whole-of-government response to severe weather. In this case, the event was flooding. At this stage the humanitarian response subgroup was activated and it acted rapidly. The Department of Social Protection activated its scheme for householders, with community welfare officers deployed to impacted areas to provide assistance and advice. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment's scheme for businesses impacted by flooding, administered by the Irish Red Cross, was activated and the qualifying criteria of the scheme were extended to assist as many small local businesses as possible. The amounts available were increased from €20,000 to €100,000.
The Civil Defence, Irish Red Cross and other voluntary groups provided practical assistance and essential psychosocial support to impacted communities across the country. This is really valuable work. This type of engagement by our committed and excellent voluntary groups ensured those who might be most isolated were checked on and provided with essentials, hospital transport for patients and medical staff and assistance in standing up community support centres, rest centres and other services. I genuinely thank all our community and voluntary groups for working so effectively and so closely with our local authorities during times of serious stress in people's lives, such as during storms like Storm Chandra. As well as this, I recognise An Post also effectively collaborated with local authorities to identify vulnerable persons and contributed actively through the humanitarian subgroup. I want to see this continue.
The local authority sector, as principal response agency, was to the forefront of the response in affected counties. Before the arrival of Storm Chandra, local authorities were monitoring river levels, activating severe weather teams and crews and standing up flood mitigation measures. As the event became more protracted, mutual aid from local authorities from across the country was made available in the form of demountable flood defences, equipment and staff. As we moved into the extended flood event, local authorities had crews on the ground, pumping water to protect property, filling and distributing sandbags, managing traffic, assisting homeowners and cleaning up once the flood waters receded. Given the water levels in the reservoir at Poulaphuca it was also deemed necessary to bring together stakeholders on a Liffey catchment subgroup. This group co-ordinated a managed release of water from the reservoir down into the Liffey catchment to ensure the integrity of the reservoir and to mitigate against flooding downstream. This has been managed successfully, with further releases continuing until water levels are deemed to be within acceptable parameters.
Learnings from the Storm Éowyn review and the associated review of Departmental and agency capabilities, combined with the enhanced operational readiness of local authorities and other stakeholders ahead of winter 2025-2026, ensured what I believe to be an effective local response to this event, supported by the NECG and all relevant public sector bodies. The national emergency co-ordination group and its associated subgroups met daily until Monday, 9 February and the Government is still working closely with relevant Departments to ensure those who have been impacted are assisted. The humanitarian schemes are still operational and payments are ongoing to those who have been affected. As mentioned previously, a decision was made to extend the qualifying criteria for the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment's scheme for small business to ensure as many as possible could qualify and this has been critical for so many. Our local authorities continue to work on the ground to assist the impacted, carry on the clean-up and begin the review of infrastructural damage to estimate the resources required for remediation. My Department will continue to work on the ground to assist the impacted.
I will finish by thanking all those who worked so tirelessly during this event, including our local authority crews, who have been and continue to be on the ground throughout this period, the Civil Defence teams and Irish Red Cross volunteers for their continual support of communities as well as our principal response agencies and staff from our Departments who have also been working on the ground and through the NECG to manage and co-ordinate operations and assistance. I want to continue to review how we handle storms and how we can improve our responses. I welcome the contributions of Members on that.

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Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10