Clare TD Timmy Dooley has called for a compensation fund to allow people living in floodplains to move away and set up home elsewhere.
Speaking in Clonlara on Monday, where severe flooding has occurred on seven occasions in the past 25 years, Mr Dooley, said “there is a necessity to look to compensate people who might wish to no longer wish to live in a place like this. I think there are people who have reached the end of their tether and I think there has to be an out for them. So, there needs to be a comprehensive response”.
Responding to local anger that successive Fianna Fáil-led governments had done little or nothing for Clonlara residents, despite years of flooding there, Mr Dooley said: "There was some work done, not enough. You can always say more should be done. This isn't a political issue. It's about the Office of Public Works, under the auspices of their engineers, identifying credible solutions. Flooding and weather events happen."
He said a special fund should be set up to provide “flood defence systems around individual houses”.
The Fianna Fáil TD said laying the blame at the door of local authorities for singing off on planning permission in areas which were now under water would not help the victims of the floodwaters.