Locals outraged as Cowen refuses to wade in
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Friday November 27 2009
GILLIAN McArdle was desperate to show Brian Cowen her flood-stricken home but he wouldn't budge on his tight schedule.
There was real panic in the woman's voice as she stood in Athlone, Co Westmeath and asked the Taoiseach to help her.
During his quick tour around the affected counties in the midlands yesterday, residents offered him waders in Athlone to "come and see" but he was not for turning.
With a 1pm cabinet meeting in Dublin looming, the Taoiseach's last pit stop on this rain-soaked venture from Banagher and Shannon Harbour to Athlone, was always going to be a brief affair.
The decision to only linger briefly on the water's edge of Athlone's Parnell Square, where over 30 homeowners had been left devastated by the worst floods to ever hit the shell-shocked town, angered its residents.
Strapped into waterproof hip-waders, an irate and soaked Ms McArdle waved with exasperation the second pair of waders she had brought for Mr Cowen to wear.
"You were offered a boat," she fumed.
Brian Cowen replied: "I'm aware of that. I'm aware of that. I've to get back," he told her, quietly and calmly.
"You were offered a pair of waders," she retorted.
"I know that. I know that," came the solemn response as Mr Cowen tried to inch away.
"We would have brought you down to the houses that were damaged and you're saying that you don't have time to come down. People's livelihoods are destroyed here. We need flood barriers. We need help," Ms McArdle told Mr Cowen as his colleague and local TD Mary O'Rourke tried to intervene.
During moments when she drew breath, a helpless Mr Cowen could be heard offering comforting messages such as: "I'm here to try and help. . . We're going to do all we can. . . I understand you're upset."
But to cries of "this is just a publicity stunt", Mr Cowen moved on, leaving the worst-affected estate in the town after visiting just one house.
"You saw what he did there. He just walked off. It was pure publicity," Ms McArdle told the assembled media as the skies darkened and yet another downpour began.
"They're after putting sandbags on my extension, which is up to this height in water (she shows 3ft in hand gestures), only there for the cameras. . . and they said to me -- I actually had to laugh at this -- they said to me once you get in front of the cameras, make sure to give us a good thank you," Ms McArdle continued in the Taoiseach's absence.
"Please, like, what is the point of that? Our houses are destroyed. My parents spent 30 years on that house. Thirty years of their life on that house for what?"
At a meeting the previous night, a local councillor had tried to lighten the mood by telling flood victims that "we're not as bad as the Irish team and the World Cup". The quip had strengthened the resolve of Ms McArdle to speak her mind when the Taoiseach arrived to survey what Parnell Square looked like under water.
Her neighbour Paul Kelly, who had offered to take Mr Cowen around the estate in his boat, said the Taoiseach had told him he simply did not have time.
"We haven't got time for this flooding. We've no choice. He's here to represent us but he's not doing that. That's his job. He didn't do a good job today," Mr Kelly said.
"He only came down here to have his face in the papers and show people he was down visiting people in the floods. That's no good to us. There are people down there who are 80 years of age and 70 years of age who are trapped in their houses. They can't come out."
- Aine Kerr
Irish Independent
