As residents in Bettystown and Mornington count the cost of catastrophic flooding for the second time in only a few months, the government response has been condemned as “slow and wholly inadequate” by Labour TD, Ged Nash.
Deputy Nash pushed the Minister for Public Expenditure this week, to act in the wake of the second major flooding event in the area in three months.
Deputy Nash said: “This week, Cllr. Elaine McGinty and I have been engaging with Meath County Council on the floods affecting Foxbury on the Golf Links Road, for example. We have requested a full report on why this area was impacted by last week’s event, and what measures the Council plans to introduce to guard against this occurring again.
“I pressed the Minister for an update on the flood relief work planned by the OPW in Bettystown and Mornington and was met with little more than vague commitments to further meetings and investigations. I was informed in the Dail that a meeting between the OPW and the Council took place today (Thursday, 26th October).
“The residents cleaning up their flood-soaked properties, this week, have had their fill of promises from this government and what they need now is action.
“The beleaguered residents of Bettystown and Mornington are now experiencing quarterly, what were once considered one-in-a-hundred-year flooding events and they need protection, now.”
The local Labour TD added: “After the last major flooding event in the area, in August, I discovered that plans to prevent the kind of devastating floods we have seen in the area this year, have sat on the shelf for five years.
“In 2018, flood risk management plans identified a scheme to include hard defences and embankments in the Mornington area that would have reduced flooding risk to numerous local properties but little or nothing concrete was done about it.
“It is simply not good enough for the government to promise further investigations to get to the root of the problem when a solution has been sitting on the drawing board for five years with no action. The residents of Mornington and Bettystown deserve better.”
Deputy Nash explained: “The OPW told me in August, that they have been ‘engaging’ on progressing the 2018 flood relief scheme in Mornington but the reality is that nothing practical has been done on the ground. Residents in the area had their lives turned upside down by summer floods and are now dealing with a second deluge thanks to five years of government inaction.
“Residents mopping up floodwaters from their properties for the second time in three months will be justifiably cynical of government promises of further investigations and reports.
“The OPW know what to do to finally address this problem. What they need is the minister’s approval and the government’s funding to get on with the job and that has to happen now, before the next storm rolls in and the floodwaters make their inevitable return.”
Deputy Nash concluded: “I welcome Meath County Council and the OPW’s efforts to address this ongoing crisis with crews on the ground working on the clean up after Storm Babet, deserve huge praise.
“But it is time now for the government to step up to the plate now, and ensure residents finally get action, not more reports.
“It is time to act now and give these long-suffering residents the security in their own homes that they deserve.”
