REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE EMERALD BALLROOM, BALLINASLOE, CO. GALWAY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MCALEESE AT THE EMERALD BALLROOM, BALLINASLOE, CO. GALWAY TUESDAY, 22ND DECEMBER 2009
Dia dhíbh a chairde. It is good to be here with you in Ballinasloe today, though I’m sorry it is in such circumstances. I would particularly like to thank Alan Farrell, Town Clerk of Ballinasloe Town Council and Kevin Kelly, Director of Services for Galway County Council for their warm welcome here today. My visit here today is an opportunity for me to express my solidarity in the run-up to Christmas with those of you whose homes, farms and businesses were damaged in the flooding and to thank all those involved in the emergency and recovery operations.
The flooding in Ballinasloe was felt both in residential areas and in the town centre and the main access roads to the town were at times unpassable. For those whose homes and business premises were affected, it was an upsetting, disorienting experience. The Crisis Management Team, which included Ballinasloe Town Council, Galway County Council, the Civil Defence, the Army and the Gardaí led the response to the flooding, together with the Fire Service, the Health Service Executive, the Office of Public Works and Waterways Ireland. Staff from these organisations worked round the clock to close blocked roads, prepare sandbag defences, pump out water, provide access to cut-off areas. And in a remarkable show of community spirit, this inter-agency effort was joined by community and voluntary organisations and by individual neighbours, family and friends of those affected, who put their shoulders to the wheel in a spirit of generosity and caring. Neighbours helped each other in whatever way they could, businesses whose premises were flooded were offered assistance from other members of Ballinasloe’s business community. The Saint Vincent de Paul received generous donations of clothes, white goods, food, labour and cash to help minimise the humanitarian impact on families. The community response was generous, spontaneous and rapid, in the spirit of the meitheal as the community joined forces to combat a problem that was larger than any one individual or agency could tackle on its own.
Although the emergency phase is now thankfully over, the much longer phase of recovery and clean-up is still underway. Those people whose homes, businesses and farms were affected are no doubt finding it difficult to plan the Christmas season when faced with the ongoing task of recovery. For you, this has been and remains a dreadful trial but the evidence I see here today of community spirit and joint effort will ensure that this too will pass. The clean-up operation is less high-profile but no less vital and I wish the local authorities, the HSE and the recently established humanitarian committee the very best as they strive for a speedy conclusion to the clean-up operation.
To everyone concerned, whether as a victim of the floods, a member of the crisis response team or a volunteer, I reiterate my thanks for your hard work and team effort. I wish you all a very peaceful Christmas and I hope that Ballinasloe can recover fully as early as possible in the New Year. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.