Cross-party group meets EU officials on flood solutions

A CROSS-PARTY delegation from the West of Ireland this week met with senior officials of the EU’s Environment Commission with a view to clearing the way for much needed flood relief works in the region to go ahead without any further delays.

Midlands/North-West MEP Luke Ming Flanagan said that the purpose of the delegation was to end any confusion once and for all as to who is responsible for key decisions on flood relief measures.

He said that he had arranged for the cross-party group to meet with the Commission in Brussels this week and stressed that the flood crisis was at this stage ‘above politics’.

“The aim of the meeting is to emerge with a clear understanding of what can be done, how it can be done, where it can be done and by whom it can be done.

“Also we want to ascertain whether there are funds available for the work, and to find out how much money is there to be spent on these projects. At that point, hopefully, the work can proceed without delay,” said Ming Flanagan.

Because of the fact that the flooding crisis had now turned into a national emergency, there was a clear need, he said, for any meeting with the Commission to include all political interests.

Ming Flanagan said that over the course of the past few weeks claims had been made – and denied also – that various EU Directives had prevented ‘very necessary’ work from taking place.

Those invited to travel to Brussels include Independent TDs Michael Fitzmaurice and Denis Naughten; Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen and Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley.

Last week Deputy Naughten called for a comprehensive aid package to help farmers who had lost fodder during the crisis or whose stock had to be relocated.

“We have now seen two ‘100 year floods’ in the last six years. We need to see real action on the ground from the Office of Public Works that can have an impact on the scale and frequency of flooding of communities in Roscommon, Galway, Leitrim, Longford and Westmeath.

“The time for studies is over, we need action immediately to cover the cost for those who were caught again by this flooding and we need to see practical solutions implemented without delay,” said Deputy Naughten.