Old chestnut of Shannon drainage gets an airing

DÁIL SKETCH:FINE GAEL'S James Bannon was in full flight, pointing an accusing finger at the Government benches. "Shame on the Government," he declared.

It had failed, he said, to set up a Shannon authority to prevent the floods that had engulfed Athlone in his Longford-Westmeath constituency.

“It promised this in 1991, again in 1995 and in 2004 . . . yet it has failed to act,” he said. “As a result hundreds of homes in my constituency are flooded.”

As is the norm these days, the dreadful flooding and the bleak state of the economy figured largely on yesterday’s agenda for the Order of Business.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny had a long parliamentary shopping list for Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, including the difficulties facing small businesses seeking funding from the banks.

“I met people yesterday who went to their bank managers with a view to putting up their own money in seeking loans to develop businesses, and they were told bluntly that they would not even lodge the application for them,” he said. “This is scandalous.”

Coughlan held out the great white hope of Nama, noting that it gave Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan powers to issue lending guidelines and to set up an arbitration mechanism to deal with disputes about credit availability.

“Shops will be closing,” was the warning from Kenny.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore also had a long shopping list, including Ibec’s withdrawal from the terms of the current national pay agreement. Gilmore thought it “provocative and unhelpful”.

As he spoke, Coughlan took extensive notes. “So many questions together,” she said, as she went on to answer each with an easy confidence.

“The action of Ibec is disappointing,” she said.

Meanwhile, James Bannon continued to brood on what he perceived to be Fianna Fáil’s failings on the Shannon.

Politically, he brought matters closer to home when he again tackled Coughlan on the issue.

“A former minister, who is now a vocal member of the House, promised the people of the midlands for a long time that she would bring forward a river Shannon authority Bill regarding the management of the Shannon,” he said. “But that legislation has not come to fruition.”

All present knew he was referring to his Longford-Westmeath colleague, Fianna Fáil’s Mary O’Rourke.

Coughlan recalled that the late Fianna Fáil TD Seán Doherty always thought that there should be a Shannon drainage scheme.

“Maybe he was not far wrong, God rest him,” she added, wistfully.

“And de Valera before that,” observed Bannon.

Minister of State for the Office of Public Works Martin Mansergh, a keen student of Dev’s words and actions, listened attentively.

But he is unlikely to promise to drain the Shannon. And he is equally unlikely to observe, Dev-like, that all he has to do is look into his own heart to know what is best for the Irish people.

These days, all the Taoiseach and his Ministers can do is to look forlornly into flood waters and the abyss that is the Irish economy.