Cllr. Ted Tynan

Ted Tynan, Workers’ Party councillor in Cork city, said; “If the Office of Public Works had produced the 300 maps that were due in March 2014 instead of the 50 that were produced, could homes destroyed in the subsequent floods have been protected? And in the 73 months from February 2008 when the River Lee was meant to have a flood risk management plan but didn’t, could Cork city and the surrounding areas have been better protected from flooding?”

Cllr. Tynan pointed to the acting government’s own 2012 Climate Change Adaptation Framework, which emphasises that investment in climate change mitigation and adaption to prevent flooding is always less expensive than responding to flooding when it happens. The cleanup following last winter’s floods will cost an estimated €100 million. The Workers’ Party councillor continued: “While government Ministers ignored their own plans on climate change, they told the rest of us climate change was being tackled by introducing Irish Water – a nonsense argument which has been demolished by these latest findings. The Adaptation Framework has not been followed by a comprehensive Climate Change Strategy – something NGOs such as Friends of the Earth have been calling for years – resulting in massive under investment in climate change.”

“The Workers’ Party is calling for all parties involved in Programme for Government negotiations to prioritise investment in climate change, and prevent another flooding disaster.”