Debate contribution: Flooding and Lack of Recovery Actions: South Down

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew McMurray on 13 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Andrew McMurray

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

13 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Flooding and Lack of Recovery Actions: South Down

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5316395

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I thank Ms Forsythe for securing the Adjournment debate, and I thank the Minister for being here. There can be no doubt that the recurrent flooding and, at times, lack of recovery action is one of the top issues that I have been dealing with over the past two years. Three large towns and, by connection, villages in my constituency have been directly affected by flooding events. Downpatrick has seen its business area severely affected; Newcastle has seen the flooding of residential areas and properties; and, as Ms Forsythe rightly said and felt the brunt of, residents of Kilkeel have regularly seen their main commuting routes in and out of the town affected, be that due to structural road defects or the roads being flooded or partially flooded, making it impossible to pass on them. The Member referenced Shannaghmore. I remember standing outside the centre in my welly boots and a high-vis trying to get some of the gullies cleared, so I know and understand how difficult it can be. The Economy Minister set aside funding for recovery after the 2023 floods, but the distribution of that money was not without difficulties for many of the businesses affected. The ramifications of that are still being worked out. The way in which flood relief grants to businesses are distributed must be looked at and reviewed.

Business groups in Downpatrick are keen to see more investment in the town, which is still reeling from the effects of the recent flooding. There has been frustration with the Infrastructure Department's response. A flood alleviation scheme has been promised, but that will take years to deliver, and it is still unclear whether funding will become available and work will start any time soon. Indeed, given the Budget situation, I worry, as do many in Downpatrick, about the timelines for that delivery.

In the meantime, there has been a lack of interim measures. Just before Christmas, the Market Place car park partially flooded. There had been a period of wet weather, but it was nothing unusual for Northern Ireland. The fields along the Ballydugan Road were saturated, and then came a yellow rain warning. I witnessed a car park being flooded by 6 to 9 inches of water. Without interim or permanent solutions, Downpatrick is only a few days of rain and a high tide away from flooding again. We have seen the repeated flooding of residential properties in Newcastle. The homeowner flood protection grant has helped to protect properties in Newcastle and is appreciated, although the delivery of it could have been faster. In the Infrastructure Committee, we have been looking at the future of that grant as part of the Water, Sustainable Drainage and Flood Management Bill. One thing that witnesses have raised a lot is the need for wider eligibility criteria so that commercial and rental properties can also be protected. That would be helpful for traders in Downpatrick. Kilkeel and Killowen have seen prolonged disruption due to the physical degradation of roads. The road between Annalong and Newcastle is regularly closed after heavy rain, due to localised flooding. I have wondered about the effect of gravity there: you have cliffs on one side and hills on the other, yet the water sometimes still does not seem to drain away. All those issues are exacerbated by climate change. Regardless of the causes of that, although the science points in a particular way, storms of increasing energy are affecting us, be that through wind or rain. There is also frustration among the public at inconsistent communication. The flood resilience group in Newcastle has been referenced. While it is appreciative to a point, it feels despondent at times at how the Department communicates with it. That is particularly significant because, although DFI promotes such groups as being the main line of defence against flooding, at times it provides them with little support. The Newcastle group is considering its future role. It wants to be and must be more than just guardians of a container of sandbags. That said, many thanks must be given to the DFI front-line workers and the groups that were mentioned who responded to the flooding issues in the town. Another issue that has been raised with me is the lack of written protocols. NI Water and DFI do not appear to have formal, written protocols for situations in which there is a risk of flooding. The response is more likely to be the result of an established work habit. That works OK for now, but there is a real worry that, if an engineer who is in charge moves on, all that muscle memory will be lost. There is a feeling that a formal, written protocol would give the affected communities a lot more confidence in the process. I say again that what we are seeing is climate change in action. Severe weather will only get worse, so it is important that we are as prepared as possible. I have heard noises from the Department that it is hopeful that a flood forecasting centre can be set up in the not-too-distant future. I would like to hear an update on that. We have heard about climate adaptability, but there is also climate preparedness, which is how we deal with infrastructure in the context of increasingly severe weather events.

887 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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