The Pope has expressed sympathies with the victims of flooding in South Galway.
The Papal letter comes as storms of Clare's election candidates outline their views on how to deal with climate change and storm damage, following on from more bad weather earlier this week.
The Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland Archbishop Charles J Brown has extended the Pope's sympathies to flood victims in South Galway in a letter sent to Galway Councillor and election candidate Michael 'Stroke' Fahy.
Some townlands there are still badly affected by flooding, weeks after the worst of the rains.
Archbishop Brown says he's informed Pope Francis about the flooding, and that the Pope has sent his prayerful concern to all in the area.
The letter follows Storm Imogen at the beginning of the week, and as a clean-up operation is carried out in coastal communities here in Clare.
As this continues, two local Election candidates have been expressing their views on how to deal with climate change and continuous bad weather.
Niamh O'Brien says successive Governments have failed to provide an answer to the flooding crisis.
The Fís Nua candidate feels the government has adopted a "find and fix" attitude rather than a "predict and prevent" mentality.
Meanwhile, Clare's outgoing Fianna Fáil TD is calling for the introduction of an infrastructure fund to deal with the issue.
Timmy Dooley says it's becoming increasingly obvious that these weather patterns will remain into the future and that while funding has been provided for repairs, the Government has been slow to invest in flood defences.
