Flood victim taking case to Europe

WHEN water gushed into Tom Flatley’s home in South Galway on November 21 last year, he didn’t know that it would consume his life ever since and eventually carry him to Europe.
In the mid 1990s, Tom moved from England to Enniscrone in Sligo before then renting a home in Oranmore.
“It was a halfway point because most of my work was in Castlebar and Sligo and my wife got work in Shannon. Eventually, my work started coming more towards Galway so we moved as soon as we could afford to buy our own house and Ardrahan was the right side of Galway for Noreen’s journey,” outlines Tom.
The young couple bought an old farmhouse in Tullira, Ardrahan. They sought to renovate it and applied for planning permission in March 2002. In October that year, Galway County Council granted planning permission for an extension to the existing house and a septic tank.
Tom’s experience buying his home was like that of many others across the country at the time.
“I didn’t do much research on the site. In hindsight, I wouldn’t make that mistake again. We viewed the property in spring time and flooding wasn’t an issue that crossed our minds to be honest,” Tom admits.
“From my own background in the construction side of things, I was always of the mind, perhaps stupidly, that planning permission was given, taking the condition of the land into account. I didn’t think they would give planning just anywhere. The history of the area as I know it now, I cannot see any reason why Galway County Council granted us planning there.
“The house we purchased had been uninhabited for years and there had never been a septic tank in it, that is how old it was. Without planning permission, we couldn’t get a mortgage and could never have purchased it,” he adds.
Tom and Noreen bought the property and began carrying out renovations straight away. In 2006, neighbours put a bungalow on the market.
“Because the houses were so close to each other, we decided to buy it. We rented that straight away. Things were moving along quite nicely. We were keeping our heads above water. For the past two years, we have been like everyone else, just getting by. As long as we had tenants we were all right,” Tom says.
But in November, the water literally rose too high.
“There was torrential rain for weeks and weeks and in the fields opposite our property, two or three fields back would hold an element of water during the winter anyway, the water started increasing and increasing. We started sandbagging. The bungalow was under water for a day and a half before the water breached our own home. We had to help the tenants to evacuate. Then we concentrated on trying to save our own house.
“Our home is in a low point and so the land around was higher and we didn’t have anywhere to pump the water to. We tried for two days and three nights but we were fighting a losing battle,” Tom recalls.
According to Tom, the water in the bungalow rose well over three feet, destroying everything in its path. In his family home, water levels rose in excess of two feet six inches. Because of the narrow stairwell in the farmhouse, large items like appliances and furnishings could not be moved to the first floor.
“We got our small personal belongings, photographs and that. We could only save things that could be left on the counter. It rose at such an alarming rate in the last 24 hours that even the local people who had seen the floods previously were speechless. They couldn’t get over it,” Tom says.
At 5.30am on the morning of November 21, Tom and Noreen left their home.
“We didn’t go until we absolutely had to. Having a small child, we had to go,” explains Tom.
“At the time we were in shock. It was very hard, I suppose especially as a father and a husband. Most problems that pop up you can both do a certain amount to have an effect on them. Whether financial or work, you can do a certain amount. But in this situation, we were both pure helpless. No matter what we did, the outcome was inevitable. The reason we stayed so long is because it is hard to drive away from your home knowing what is happening to it. We were gutted but I don’t think it really sank in for some time afterwards. The damage was one aspect but when we learned in the coming weeks about the history of the area and the likelihood of it flooding again, that hit us a lot worse,” he remembers.
The couple and their young son went to stay with a cousin until they found a house to rent and have stayed in rented accommodation for the past eight months.
Tom is angry with Galway County Council and the Government for what happened before and since water flooded his home.
“Damage can be repaired but the flood and damage is nothing compared to how we were treated since,” he says.
Since leaving his home, Tom has learned that in late December 2000, a neighbour was granted permission by the council to demolish a house.
According to a letter from the agent attached to this planning file, the house was being demolished because it “was flooded on a few occasions in the past,” and the applicant was building a new home. The site maps included with the permission show its proximity to the Flatley’s home.
Tom believes Galway County Council should not have granted him planning permission in 2002, just under two years after it received this letter in relation to his neighbour’s property.
“The situation is shattering. It has consumed every minute since the moment the water came in the door. Even this morning, I saw my wife crying over it. It is hard to put up with. You don’t stop to think what your home means to you. I have never been sentimental but I think it is a case of not being able to make your own choices. If a situation was of your own making, like if me and my wife had been taking mad financial risks then of course we would take the hit but when something like this happens through no fault of your own, it is hard to take. You have to keep a check on your anger too because it will eat you up,” he adds.
“As far as I am concerned the county council created the problem so they can find a solution to it. I cannot stop until we have a solution because everything we have worked at for 10 years is there. It has no consequence to the council. It is not costing them money but it does have consequences for us and to our child because everything we have worked for is gone,” Tom says.
Tom owns his own block paving business. The decimation of the construction industry in the past three years has resulted in a severe downturn in the amount of work he is doing.
“My work has gone to almost nothing since before last Christmas. We are without a rental income on the bungalow, we have to rent a house for ourselves and pay the mortgages on both houses without any work,” he explains.
Tom now finds himself, like so many others, in limbo, unable to rebuild his home because of the possibility of a reoccurrence.
It is against this background that Tom is now taking the issue to Europe. He is currently preparing to have his petition against his treatment at the hands of Galway County Council and the Office of Public Works heard by a top European Parliament Committee.
“I believe Galway County Council were remiss in granting me planning permission without doing a flood risk analysis or alerting me to the fact that the property is located on a flood plain. As a result, I am now left with two uninhabitable houses, a large bank loan and forced to live in rented accommodation. I have had meetings with the Galway County Council management officials, with the OPW and Minister Martin Mansergh asking for compensation similar to the compensation scheme in Gort in the mid 1990s but all to no avail. That is the reason I have asked Jim Higgins MEP to bring my case before the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament”.
Commenting on the situation, MEP Higgins stated, “In the mid 1990s, the rainbow government of which I was a member was faced with a major flooding crisis throughout the country. The Gort area was particularly badly hit with a lot of houses damaged beyond repair. Our Government put in place a humanitarian and compensation scheme, which enabled families to be relocated and compensated. I am at a loss to know why the plight of Mr Flatley is not given the same humanitarian consideration. I will be strongly supporting the Flatley petition at the Parliament Petitions Committee and, as happened with previous successful petitions, I will be asking that Mr Flatley be granted an audience before the committee hearing.
“I believe what Mr Flatley seeks is reasonable. He is looking for two things. Firstly, a flood controls plan to be put in place by the Office of Public Works to ensure that if his houses are repaired they would not be flooded again and secondly, that in the event of the necessary flood protection being put in place, that he be provided with assistance from the humanitarian fund in order to make his house liveable again.”
For 32-year-old Tom, travelling to Europe and speaking before a Union committee is a daunting task.
“We have no choice but to take this action. It would be so much easier to just go back into the house. If it was a one-off occurrence we would go back in and put it down to a one-off incident and get back to normal,” he says.
“They are putting flood mitigation works all over the county. We don’t live in a housing estate, it is a one-off property and it feels like there is no interest in helping us. Our property is as important to us as anyone in Claregalway or Turloughmore, so surely we are entitled to the same level of protection,” Tom concludes.