Gormley On Flood Fixing Frenzy

The Minister for the Environment has visited the various flooded sites throughout the State and proposed a 'raft' of measures to help minimise flooding in the future.

The TD, John Gormley, has asked all local authorities to prepare reports on the recent flooding in order to assess any future emergency responses and inform future Government policy.

The Minister also proposed new restrictions on planning, to ensure new developments were not built on high-risk areas.

Mr Gormley also insisted that funding would be available to those affected by the flooding, including in Carlow town, which he visited yesterday.

Parts of Carlow town were under almost 2m of flood water after the River Barrow burst its banks after heavy rainfall over the weekend.

Around 100 people spent last night in a hotel after they were forced to leave their apartment block on Centaur Street.

Meanwhile, Joanna Tuffy TD, Labour Party Spokesperson on Environment and Heritage has hit out at Mr Gormley for supposedly blaming the flooding on climate change.

"His attempt…to blame the recent floods on climate change is an insult to people's intelligence and represents a failure on the part of the Greens, as a Government Party to accept responsibility for the lack of adequate preparations," she said.

However, Met Eirean revealed today the flooding was the result of the highest rainfall ever recorded in August.

(DW)