Election 2024: 'What happened to us was a wake-up call' says Midleton flood victim
Caroline Leahy at the back door of her home in Midleton, Co Cork. Her home had three feet of flood water on the ground floor after the flooding during Storm Babet over a year ago. Picture: Larry Cummins
In the build-up to the last general election, Midleton woman Caroline Leahy was very much an undecided voter.
Not only was she unaware of anything about the candidates before she cast her vote, but to this day, she has no idea who she voted for in February 2020.
This time round, and since Storm Babet flooded the home she shares with her partner, things are very different.
“The flood has completely changed my attitude and I am far more interested and engaged than I was last time around,” the 38-year-old legal executive said.
This time, she wants to know exactly what the various parties are going to do about a host of flood-related issues that she says need urgent attention.
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She and her partner Aidan Murphy suffered around €90,000 in damage to their home on Midleton’s Tir Cluain estate when Storm Babet hit in October last year.
A waist-high wave of dirty water swept into their home, destroying everything below the water line.
Although they had flood insurance and were able to claim back around €70,000, they have since lost their flood cover and had to pay the balance of what was owed in repairs out of their meagre savings.
“Although there was a big flood in the town in 2015, our house hadn’t flooded, and I didn’t think it would flood again in Midleton on any big scale,” she said.
“Added to that, I thought the council’s flood relief scheme was being worked on and would be online soon enough.
“To be honest, what happened to us was a wake-up call.
“Not only did we not think we would be affected by flooding, but we just assumed that when it did happen, we could rely on the State to act.
“It did act, but not everybody benefitted and what action there has been, has come about very slowly.”
What Fine Gael and Sinn Féin are offering people like Caroline in terms of election promises on flooding is not yet clear.
The same applies to smaller parties like Independent Ireland and Aontú, although the latter’s election candidate Mona Stromsoe has been very involved in advocating for residents in her role as chair of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Action Group.
Based on their published manifestos to date, only Fianna Fáil and the Social Democrats have electoral commitments that would appeal to the Caroline Leahys of this world.
Fianna Fáil has, for example, promised it will “accelerate the implementation of flood protection schemes including tidal barriers and early warning systems”.
As well as lobbying on behalf of constituents affected by Storm Babet, the party’s sitting TD James O’Connor has also repeatedly raised the town’s flood-related issues in the Dáil and with ministers.
"Meanwhile, the Social Democrats say that, if elected, they will - among other things - require state bodies to first examine upstream natural-based solutions when considering works required to deal with flood relief and protection."
Their Cork East General Election candidate Liam Quaide has been one of the most vocal local representatives in raising issues around flooding in Midleton.
Caroline is very clear about what she wants to hear about from anybody canvassing for her vote.
“Midleton needs the current flood relief scheme speeded up,” she said.
“The fact that we won’t have it up and running until 2030 is not good enough.
“I don’t know why other countries around the world can operate early warning systems but we seem incapable of operating them, in Ireland.” “Don’t get me wrong," she added. “Things are starting to move and I don’t doubt everyone involved is doing their best. But as I have discovered, everything seems to move at a snail’s pace.
She would also like there to be better communication with residents about anything to do with flood relief or mitigation.
“We have had to fight tooth and nail to find out what is being done since Storm Babet,” she said. "Above all though — we need to see things being done.
“The people of Midleton need to see shovels in the ground.”
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