TDs unite on flood effort
THE three East Galway TDs are to join forces in the setting up of a ‘Flood Forum’ aimed at maximising funding for flood relief measures in different parts of the county.
Deputies Ciaran Cannon (FG), Anne Rabbitte (FF) and new Minister of State at the OPW (Office of Public Works), Sean Canney (Independent Alliance) collectively have written to the Chief Executive of Galway Co. Council suggesting that they should be the ‘lead agency’ in the provision of flood relief measures.
The TDs are also pressing for the establishment of a Co. Galway Flood Forum to ‘ensure that the maximum amount of funding’ makes its way to the county and that long standing flood issues are ‘resolved once and for all’.
According to the three TDs, there are four distinct entities who have a role to play in solving flooding in South Galway – the County Council, the OPW, the NPWS (National Parks and Wildlife Service) and Coillte.
Deputy Ciaran Cannon said that the Government had committed to spending €430 million on flood relief projects over the next five years adding that acute flood risk areas needed to be prioritised for a signficant amount of that money.
“All of the communities who have been so adversely affected by flooding over the past 20 years have placed their trust in their public representatives to deliver solutions and we intend to honour that trust.
“We intend to establish the Co. Galway Flood Forum and to invite senior officials in each of these entities to the first meeting of the forum. At this meeting our public representatives, both local and national, will articulate the views of flood victims and seek an initial response from each entity as to how they intend to address the flooding challenge over the coming months and years.
“It is our intention that this forum will meet every quarter and at each meeting the representatives of each entity will be invited to provide updates on their individual contribution to finding flood relief solutions. We will also be inviting representatives of Co. Galway IFA as our local farmers have been very badly impacted by flooding,” said Deputy Cannon.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.