Storm Chandra brought widespread flooding to Dublin and the South-East in January and February after the Dodder and Slaney rivers were pushed beyond their banks.
More than 20,000 properties were left without power at the height of the storm. Areas in Rathfarnham and Nutgrove saw cars left stranded as roads were submerged. Towns such as Enniscorthy were likewise inundated with floodwater.
Sorting through piles of damaged furniture, many were left wondering how such preventable destruction could be considered a mere fact of life in a supposedly rich country.
This flooding was neither unprecedented nor unpredictable. The flood patterns of the Dodder and Slaney are well-documented, as are the specific points of vulnerability. The same areas were hit with major flooding 25 years ago.
A quarter of a century on, the state still has not built a dedicated, localised flood warning system to alert at-risk communities — let alone a suitable defence system against flooding!
Moreover, there are no mandates preventing employees from being called into work during weather catastrophes. But at least Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney expressed his utmost faith that employers are “reasonable”, and will act out of the kindness of their hearts!
Despite the increased risk of extreme weather events and floods due to mounting climate catastrophe, the drainage infrastructure is yet to be upgraded to be able to cope with the intense Atlantic rainfall events that have become increasingly common.
The Whitechurch Stream flood defence scheme, approved in 2020, was delayed by five years, leaving the area exposed during the recent flooding. Meanwhile Enniscorthy is still waiting on flood relief schemes that have been planned since the early 2000s! As one Enniscorthy resident put it, “It’s becoming laughable; they’re not putting people’s lives first at all!”
Heavy rainfall is often followed by cockroach infestations as they’re forced above ground. Similarly, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has visited flood-affected areas in County Wexford, where he had the gall to tell workers who just had their homes destroyed that he “cannot wave a magic wand” to deliver protection schemes.
However magic wands seem to be in ample supply when it comes to removing rent controls, scrapping the Triple Lock or giving tax breaks to fast food chains, which are just some of the recent “pressing” matters the government has managed to find time and resources for!
Decades of environmental destruction driven by corporate profit have ensured that Ireland will face more extreme rain, fall and rising sea levels going forward.
Yet the ruling class have shown time and time again they will not spend even a fraction of the wealth they plunder from the working class and the planet to protect us from the results of the climate crisis they are responsible for.
In a workers’ state, where the economy is run for the needs of workers and youth rather than the profits of the rich, thousands wouldn’t be left at the mercy of climate while billions of euros idly sit in the banks.
To provide a safe and dignified existence for everyone in Ireland, we need to expropriate the wealth of these parasites.
