Severe Weather & Water supply – Update (March 5th)

The March meeting of Dublin City Council took place this evening. As Leader of the Fine Gael group, I took the opportunity to speak on the impact of the ‘BeastfromtheEast’ and ‘Storm Emma’ and how our public and emergency services dealt with this severe weather incident.

At the outset, I placed on record my sincere thanks to all those who serve in our emergency services, including Dublin Fire Brigade, the Defence Forces, Civil Defence, the Gardai, Dublin Homeless Executive for the trojan effort that was on display in recent days. I think, the past week showed the wonderful Irish spirit, of putting our collective shoulder to the wheel and helping our neighbours, infirmed and immobile. In addressing this evening’s City Council meeting, I commended the communications work undertaken by the National Emergency Coordination Centre and locally in Dublin City Council. There was no shortage of information to public representatives and marked a significant improvement compared with the deep freezes we experienced in 2009 and 2010. Many lessons were learned. Indeed, the biggest of these was the use of social media by all state emergency agencies. The positive side of social media was on display in recent days.

While the severe weather is lessening, we are still dealing with the severe impact the storms caused.

• Council tenants are without heat. The Chief Executive committed to me, this evening, that any complaints logged will be responded to and repairs undertaken by Friday, at the very latest. Let me know if you are a Council tenant and your heating is not working properly.
• The Council’s Gully Cleaning team, that do massive work throughout the city on a daily basis, are continuing to prioritize the cleaning of shores and gullies in areas that have been prone to flooding in the past.
• Following the announcement by Irish Water earlier that restrictions to the supply of drinking water will come into effect from 7pm this evening, I sought a clear commitment from the Chief Executive that emergency tankers and supplies are put in place in areas that have traditionally experienced difficulties with water pressure. Council engineers and Irish Water officials are meeting in the morning, after which a comprehensive report will be circulated. When that information is available to me, I will share it with residents via http://www.raymcadam.com.
• In addition to the previous point, I asked the Chief Executive what work has been done by the City Council in identifying the areas at risk from flooding as a result of the thaw that is now undertaken. Given that the level of communication was extremely good in the build up and duration of Storm Emma, we need to ensure those communications are maintained now as we progress through the aftermath of the severe weather incident.

If you or your family are experiencing any difficulties with water supply, loss of heating in your home, dangerous state of the footpaths in your neighborhood or on your street, please contact me at:

Phone:086 847 1720

Email: raymcadam@gmail.com

Facebook: Councillor Ray Mc Adam

Twitter: @RayMcAdam