This article is from page 58 of the 2008-09-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 58 JPG
THE ICMSA has called for an im- mediate and co-ordinated response from Government to the recent floods in terms of the health and safety is- sues involved.
ICMSA Rural Development Com- mittee Chairman John O’Donnell said the piecemeal approach current- ly favored to what is rapidly becom- ing a matter of national emergency is completely inadequate to the scale of the threat posed.
“We have to be much more sys- tematic, both in terms of short term actions to repair damaged infra- structure and longer term measures to lessen the effects of the flooding that all the forecasters are saying 1s going to become a permanent feature of our lives,’ he said.
Mr O’Donnell pointed out that me- dia and official attention tended to focus on the damage floods inflicted on urban environments with rural areas receiving much less attention and, consequently, much less aid.
‘There has been considerable dam- age done in both towns and country areas with biting losses suffered by farmers through damaged crops and saturated land.
“While a lot of the media attention is focused on urban areas, people should not forget that many people living in country areas have also seen their houses flooded as well as ruinous income losses through the inability to farm because of the flooding.
“It is clear, as well, that there are massive health and safety issues as- sociated with flooding and it is es- sential that the Government address these as a matter of priority and not simply forget them once the floods have subsided,’ pointed out Mr O’Donnell.
“A great deal of the damage relat- ing to these floods stems from out- dated infrastructure, such as bridges, culverts, and various types of debris obstructing rivers and the failure to maintain rivers in an appropriate condition — and that failure is the
clear responsibility of the Govern- ment and its agencies.
“It is ICMSA’s view that a special fund should be established to address these infrastructure deficits immedi-
ately in a way that will minimise the Stress and losses to families, who are facing the prospects of this type of chaos every year,’ concluded the IC- MSA Chairman.