'All talk, no action' - Government faces devastated Passage East
Amanda Pepper speaks with Minister Moran and Minister Cummins.
On Sunday, February 8, Government top brass arrived in Passage East on what was an unusually idyllic day compared to the recent terror that overtook the village in the wake of Storm Chandra.
The tranquil coastal village suffered intense flooding on Friday, January 30. The brook that overlooks the village spilled over, despite prior concerns raised by residents, and damaged roughly 20 houses located along the brookside and Postal Square.
Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Kevin ‘Boxer’ ,Moran held court with residents in the village’s community centre.
He was flanked on either side by Waterford Ministers of State Mary Butler and John Cummins, and Waterford City and County Council’s chief executive and director of services Seán McKeown and Gabriel Hynes.
Residents raised issue with a lack of flood prevention infrastructure and a lethargic response from the local council.
Drains for Passage East were not cleared out on the day of the flooding, and residents said the sandbags deployed were insufficient.
“My house was flooded out there now in Post Office Square," local resident Rhos Cleare told Minister Moran.
"I couldn't get out of my house for the volume of water that was flowing. I couldn't even open the door."
“What's the point in throwing good money at the same local authority who even now refuses to acknowledge that there were deficits in the response and planning for this flood.
“We've had heavy rain since Christmas. There was yellow, orange rain warnings and phone calls made to the council to log concerns, to warn them that the brook was overflowing at four o'clock on the Friday evening. And there was nothing.
“We're paying the price of it now. We've all got exclusions on our house insurance.
“I'm there on my own with three kids in the house, trying to figure out how I'm going to replace carpets that I’ve had to rip out. My son’s asthmatic, that place is stinking, and we're just being put through hoops.”
Mr McKeown said that the brook’s overflow couldn’t have been prevented.
Sean Furlong, proprietor of Furlong’s Geneva Bar, referenced failed applications to rectify the issue of the brook in past years. Mr Furlong’s bar was severely damaged by the flooding.
“We were informed here by Seán [McKeown] that there's nothing they could do.
“It was my understanding that there was an application for €750,000 put in by our councillors for flood relief. It was refused.
“Since then, it has emerged that over €200 million has been dispersed between Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, but yet we can't get, was it €250,000, Waterford got?”
Figures released to Waterford Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane showed Waterford ranked 22nd out of 24 counties for flood relief funding from 2020-2025.
Waterford received €240,000 from the OPW over the period, equating to .24% of national spend on flood prevention.
Minister Moran said OPW criteria and limits on maximum had been loosened to allow counties to avail of flood relief funding.
Walking the streets of the village, Brookeside resident Anne Moran said the Government response to flooding was “all talk, no action.”
She described Passage East as the “forgotten village.”
Another woman said that flooding had come through the walls of her home. “We all pay our taxes. We work hard at this age, it's just a disgrace…our lovely homes are being destroyed.”
Minister Moran said it takes eleven years to push through a flood relief infrastructure project from start to finish.
He said priority must be shifted to interim measures like IPP (Individual Property Protection). Minister Moran described IPP as a gate that can fit almost all buildings and front doors and is designed to function as a more effective alternative to sandbags.
Waterford City and County Chief Executive Sean McKeown said the council will be undertaking an “honest” review of the flooding and the council’s responses.
Affected locals will apply for emergency response payments. The response payment takes place in three phases - the first stage caters to immediate needs, and the second and third cover damage to essential contents and long-term financial damage to properties.
The latter two phases are means-tested. A single household with a gross income of below €50,000 will receive 100% redress, with the same applying to a couple earning below €90,000. Every household must forfeit a % of redress for every €1,000 they earn above the threshold.
Asked by the , if fixing the underlying issue of the brook was a priority for the OPW and Waterford politicians, Minister Moran said: “I’ve given my assurance this morning of my being here and working with the local authorities to deliver for the people of Passage East.
“In the interim, but also in the long-term, I will work to do that. I know, as was said earlier, that the council have a lot of work done about sitting down with me and my department.”
Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for Mental Health Mary Butler said implementing flood prevention schemes for the brook is “an absolute priority.”
“I don’t think Passage East has ever seen as many politicians as they’ve seen [today] unless it was an election in Passage East...We’re here on a Sunday morning, the Minister is solution-driven, solution-focused, and he doesn’t want to see anyone’s house flooded.”
Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane said to the “the proof is in the eating of the pudding” in relation to Government support for Passage East.
“I was satisfied insofar as we had a meeting and commitments were given. But commitments are only as good as the funding that comes behind them and how quickly it’ll take to deliver them.”
Deputy Cullinane referenced issues surrounding water pressure in Passage East as evidence more needed to be done for locals.
“Residents are saying ‘yes it’s great that a Minister comes in and says we’re going fund these projects, we’re going to deliver them, we’re going to prioritise them’…let’s see what happens over the next while.
“I’m hopeful that it will happen, I think the Minister is genuine in his commitment to engage with the local authority…let’s get those projects on the Minister’s desk, make sure he keeps his word, fast-tracks the project, and then people will hopefully see progress and delivery.”
