Storm Chandra: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-10 ============================================================ Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel I thank the Minister of State for coming in for this important discussion. My home county of Wexford was devastated by flooding in the past two weeks and I have to highlight a number of issues. I spoke about the Enniscorthy flood relief project previously, but we saw the impact of heavy rainfall in counties Carlow and Wicklow making its way down the River Slaney, first, with the devastation that was caused on the Ryland Road in Bunclody upstream and then making its way down to a major flooding event in my home town, Enniscorthy, where we, yet again, witnessed absolute devastation for residents on the Island Road, Shannon Quay in Templeshannon and Abbey Quay. Down further, Wexford town was on high alert. The reality is that we have not seen action on the Enniscorthy flood relief scheme. We have been flooded 16 times since 2000. I appreciate that the Taoiseach was down with us and I appreciate that we have had the Minister of State, Deputy Boxer Moran. There is a series of interim measures. I met with the CEO of Wexford County Council last Friday and he proposed several measures that the OPW has, to its credit, committed to fund, including the installation of non-return valves and barriers put up on slipways, providing adequate protection through permanent sandbags and aquadams. These are important measures, but the reality is that these measures came to late for the people in Enniscorthy. We have to see progress on legislative change to rebalance the legislative priorities in this country between protecting protected species, such as the freshwater pearl mussel living under the old bridge in Enniscorthy, and the businesses and the residents right across the country. Let us not forget that it was not only Bunclody, Enniscorthy and Wexford town that saw and experienced serious flood risk. It was also further south. The Minister of State visited Our Lady's Island in the summertime. They saw an absolutely catastrophic flooding event once again. Bridgetown, in south Wexford, only a few miles away, saw devastation due to flooding. We have to examine our legislative priorities. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan is the Minister of State with responsible for heritage but I am also aware that he comes from an area that has experienced flooding and that he understands the need and the importance of reprioritising between protected species and human beings. I will conclude by applaud the work of Slaney Search and Rescue, a voluntary organisation that carried out rescues yet again in Enniscorthy. Currently, it does not have a designated premises. It is locked out of Government grant schemes owing to the nature of the work it does. We have to have change in this area so that the resources that the organisation needs can be provided in a timely manner. --- 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