Could more flooding be on the way?
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By JOHN FALLON
A climate expert has warned that little action has been taken to prevent a repeat of flooding damage which devastated large tracts of Co Galway last year.
NUI Galway lecturer and climate change specialist Kieran Hickey said that the Government has done very little to prepare for another disaster.
Mr Hickey, speaking in Galway before publication by Four Courts Press last night (THURS) of his analysis, entitled ‘Deluge: Ireland’s weather disasters 2009-2010’, said last year’s flood damage could have been avoided.
He said that ‘nothing of significance’ had taken place to prevent a repeat of estimated €1billion worth of damage caused by last year’s floods.
“You already have many families who are facing into a second Christmas without their home, and other individuals who have experienced illness and stress due to the flooding or the cold snap or both,” said Mr Hickey.
“Much of this could be avoided with a less short-term approach by the State,” he said.
He said that one immediate practical step would be to use the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) to move residents in flood-risk areas into nearby ‘ghost estates’ on higher ground.
Mr Hickey said that houses subject to repeat flooding could be demolished, which would help to reduce the oversupply of housing stock and this, in turn, would encourage completion of some ghost estates.
He said a climate change minister, who would co-ordinate preventative measures, should be appointed to Cabinet, as fears that Ireland will be prone to more extreme weather events.
Mr Hickey said that the new minister should also have responsibility for an independent mediator to assist families and businesses affected by flooding.
He said that many families and businesses affected over the past winter were forced into taking expensive legal actions, due to the response of banks and insurance companies to date.
“It was also pure luck that no one perished in the flooding, particularly in Cork where people woke up with water lapping around their ankles”, said Mr Hickey.
