THE WEATHER WARNING system needs to be reformed after people in parts of Ireland were taken off guard by heavy rain leading to flooding, the Taoiseach said this morning.

Micheál Martin was speaking to Claire Byrne on her first show back at Newstalk as further rain warnings are in place for a number of southern and eastern counties.

A Yellow rain warning is in effect in Dublin, Louth and Wicklow until 9pm this evening, and for Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Cork and Waterford until 3pm Tuesday.

Met Éireann have warned of possible localised flooding, river flooding and travel disruption due to further heavy rain falling on already saturated ground, high river levels and high tides.

Speaking to Claire Byrne, Martin began by highlighting the southeast and southwest are among the more vulnerable areas to further flooding this week due to the level of saturation and high tides.

Last week, heavy rain from Storm Chandra led to intense flooding, particularly in the southeast of the country. Homes and businesses were flooded as a result. 

Met Éireann came under fire as it had not issued a rain warning for Dublin, where the south of the county was subjected to heavy downpour and flooding. Warnings for other counties did not detail the potential disastrous impacts.

A Met Éireann forecaster told The Journal that this was because the decision to enact warnings is based solely on the level of rainfall, and does not account for how wet the ground already is before a storm arrives – nor issues with drains in local areas.

Housing Minister James Browne, who is the minister responsible for Met Éireann, criticised the agency’s approach to issuing warnings and its communication with the public, stating that it was withholding relevant information.

The minister came under criticism from members of the Opposition for what some described as an attempt to shift blame from Government’s insufficient flood mitigation works onto Met Éireann.

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This morning, Martin agreed with Browne and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers that there needs to be reform to Met Éireann’s warning system.

“In terms of matching your national weather forecasting with local characteristics or local situations – and that will take a lot of work, in terms of river catchment areas and being able to give more precise forecasting for specific local areas.

“That’s work that’s underway already,” the Taoiseach said.

Martin also said that such weather is becoming more frequent and systems need to evolve with the changing climate.

Those who have suffered significant damage to their homes, businesses, and belongings in the course of the floods are entitled to grants from the Department of Social Protection, he added.

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“We have to plan funding allocations. Prevention [of floods] is the number one way of preventing cost, and that’s getting the schemes delivered. But they are complex, and they do take time.

“I think we have to do more short term work, and we do have to look at the nature based solutions as well, in terms of reflooding areas and of looking at how we in the coastal areas also, but prevention is number one.”

Opposition criticism

Sinn Féin MEP Kathleen Funchion criticised Martin’s comments made in Kilkenny yesterday, in which he said there is “no magic wand” to deliver flood relief.

“The government must dedicate funding to completing flood defence plans that have been stalled for almost a decade,” Funchion said.

“Time and again, ministers arrive during floods with promises of action, only for those commitments to be forgotten once the floodwaters recede.

“Micheál Martin’s comments yesterday that there is ‘no magic wand’ to deliver flood relief ring hollow, given that he has spent many years in government, including as Taoiseach,” Funchion added.

She said that long-term flood defence plans “have been drawn up and ready to go for years”, and have simply been “lacking only political will” and funding.

“If those flood defence commitments had been fulfilled during that time, the extent of the flooding damage this week would not have been as severe,” Funchion said.