IFA flood project chair and Connacht regional chair Tom Turley addressed the large crowd in Athlone on Saturday at the national stop the flooding rally, calling on the Irish Government to start work immediately on the waterways around the country.
"We have the M50 in Dublin, and when the traffic got busy on that, they put an extra lane in. If there's a car crash or one lane blocked, we around the rest of the country know about it because it's on the airwaves.
"The waterways are the same. There's bushes, there's rubbish. there's silt and there's sewage in all our rivers, and no one wants to do a damn bit about it," he told the crowd.
We didn't see any of them for the last 12 weeks in their vans. They're not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now
Turley told An Taisce and other lobbying groups "to get the hell out of the way" so that work could be done.
"We're told by the environmental groups that we should plant more trees. Well it's hard to plant more trees in a turlough in west Roscommon that's 35ft deep, or along the river Shannon when there's 16ft of water.
"We didn't see any of them for the last 12 weeks in their vans. They're not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now," he said.
The crowd in Athlone at the national Stop the Flooding Rally yesterday #STOPTHEFLOODING
Posted by Irish Farmers Journal on Sunday, 21 February 2016
Turley called for one single authority to look after the waterways. He disregarded the idea of flood defences as a solution, saying it only pushed the problem down the river to someone else.
"17 local authorities have a say on the Shannon but none have responsibility when it comes to your houses, your businesses, your farms being flooded, and your livelihoods being washed away.
"Like the roads, we want the same level of interest in our waterways, and we want the work to start as soon as the water recedes. If not [these communities] are going to take it into their own hands," he said.
Trauma of flooding
Representing flood victims from the lower end of the Shannon, Geraldine Quinlivan from southeast Clare spoke about the trauma she and her family have gone through after the floods destroyed their home and farm.
"I for one will never forget how I felt when I was forced to move out of my home after three and half weeks of fighting the rising flood water.
"On the back of my brother's tractor with one of my sons, I looked back and saw the rest of my exhausted family still manning pumps to see if they could keep the flood water out of our homes, and I vowed there and then that I would do everything I could to ensure that that never happened again, not just to me, but to anyone else either," she told the crowd.
Geraldine said that as far back as 2006, they identified solutions to their flooding issues, which were largely ignored by successive governments.
"We have a right not to feel stressed and anxious and afraid in our own homes each year from November to March.
"Flood defences around our homes, a single authority for the river Shannon, better water management, and the cleaning of the river, particularly down near UL, where it's only operating at a quarter of its capacity − these potential solutions have been largely ignored by successive governments and this has to stop," she said.
Rural Ireland forgotten
Roscommon IFA chair John Hanley said the Government had "forgotten rural Ireland".
"Rural communities have been forgotten about. The physical and mental stress this has caused is absolutely unreal. People are on their knees and it's time we stood up and took back control.
"We have the second so-called '100-year flood' in six years. The time for talking is over. Action is required now," he said.
Read more
Full coverage: flooding
IFA flood project chair and Connacht regional chair Tom Turley addressed the large crowd in Athlone on Saturday at the national stop the flooding rally, calling on the Irish Government to start work immediately on the waterways around the country.
"We have the M50 in Dublin, and when the traffic got busy on that, they put an extra lane in. If there's a car crash or one lane blocked, we around the rest of the country know about it because it's on the airwaves.
"The waterways are the same. There's bushes, there's rubbish. there's silt and there's sewage in all our rivers, and no one wants to do a damn bit about it," he told the crowd.
We didn't see any of them for the last 12 weeks in their vans. They're not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now
Turley told An Taisce and other lobbying groups "to get the hell out of the way" so that work could be done.
"We're told by the environmental groups that we should plant more trees. Well it's hard to plant more trees in a turlough in west Roscommon that's 35ft deep, or along the river Shannon when there's 16ft of water.
"We didn't see any of them for the last 12 weeks in their vans. They're not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now," he said.
The crowd in Athlone at the national Stop the Flooding Rally yesterday #STOPTHEFLOODING
Posted by Irish Farmers Journal on Sunday, 21 February 2016
Turley called for one single authority to look after the waterways. He disregarded the idea of flood defences as a solution, saying it only pushed the problem down the river to someone else.
"17 local authorities have a say on the Shannon but none have responsibility when it comes to your houses, your businesses, your farms being flooded, and your livelihoods being washed away.
"Like the roads, we want the same level of interest in our waterways, and we want the work to start as soon as the water recedes. If not [these communities] are going to take it into their own hands," he said.
Trauma of flooding
Representing flood victims from the lower end of the Shannon, Geraldine Quinlivan from southeast Clare spoke about the trauma she and her family have gone through after the floods destroyed their home and farm.
"I for one will never forget how I felt when I was forced to move out of my home after three and half weeks of fighting the rising flood water.
"On the back of my brother's tractor with one of my sons, I looked back and saw the rest of my exhausted family still manning pumps to see if they could keep the flood water out of our homes, and I vowed there and then that I would do everything I could to ensure that that never happened again, not just to me, but to anyone else either," she told the crowd.
Geraldine said that as far back as 2006, they identified solutions to their flooding issues, which were largely ignored by successive governments.
"We have a right not to feel stressed and anxious and afraid in our own homes each year from November to March.
"Flood defences around our homes, a single authority for the river Shannon, better water management, and the cleaning of the river, particularly down near UL, where it's only operating at a quarter of its capacity − these potential solutions have been largely ignored by successive governments and this has to stop," she said.
Rural Ireland forgotten
Roscommon IFA chair John Hanley said the Government had "forgotten rural Ireland".
"Rural communities have been forgotten about. The physical and mental stress this has caused is absolutely unreal. People are on their knees and it's time we stood up and took back control.
"We have the second so-called '100-year flood' in six years. The time for talking is over. Action is required now," he said.
Read more
Full coverage: flooding
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