FAMILIES and livelihoods in Dromcollogher have been abandoned after flooding due to the government’s failure to provide under the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme.
That’s according to Sinn Féin Senator Joanne Collins, who has deemed the government’s refusal to activate funding for families in Dromcollogher as “heartless” and “an insult to those who have lost their homes, livelihoods, and peace of mind”.
Limerick City and County Council responded quickly to the shock flooding incident last month after receiving worried calls to its emergency phone line, with crews from the Limerick Fire and Rescue Service, based at Newcastle West, Abbeyfeale, and Rathkeale, deployed to provide assistance.
Flooding was at its highest around the Dromcollogher Respite Centre, where a coordinated pumping operation was established. It is understood that some residents were evacuated from the centre by worried members of their families.
It is also understood that as many as 20 homes were damaged in the town due to the flash flooding on Sunday July 20.
Senator Collins visited Dromcollogher to meet with families and small business owners whose homes were damaged by floodwater and sewage, some of whom have now been forced to leave their homes.
“Residents in Dromcollogher have raised the need for the rivers to be dredged, the dikes to be filled in behind properties, and the pressure on the town’s sewage system. They repeatedly raised these concerns with government representatives in the constituency and yet no preventative works were done at the time,” Senator Collins told the Limerick Post.
“This didn’t come out of nowhere, the warnings were there. The solutions were known. But the inaction from relevant authorities is now being paid for by ordinary people.”
Senator Collins said that “the families in Dromcollogher are dealing with absolute devastation. Many are now having to pay rent to Limerick City and County Council elsewhere while still covering their mortgages. Their homes are uninhabitable due to flood and sewage damage. They’ve lost not just material items, but their sense of security.”
Senator Collins added that the reality is that these are “real people, real families”, whose lives have been destroyed, and now, instead of urgent assistance, they are being told to go through a means test with the Department of Social Protection.
“That is disgraceful. It’s bureaucratic cruelty at a time when what they need is compassion and action,” she hit out.
“It is completely unjust that these families have been left to fend for themselves while the Department of Social Protection refuses to activate a basic emergency scheme designed for exactly this kind of crisis.”
Senator Collins acknowledged the recent work by Limerick City and County Council to dredge the river and thanked the staff involved for responding after the event, adding however that “there are deeper, ongoing issues, particularly the filled-in dikes behind properties and the overwhelmed sewage system in the town”.
“These must be addressed urgently if we’re serious about protecting families in the future.
Senator Collins is now calling for the immediate activation of the Humanitarian Assistance Scheme for Dromcollogher, a full audit of the town’s sewage and drainage infrastructure, an investigation into land and water management practices, and a commitment from all relevant agencies to act on community warnings before, “not after”, the next flood.
