Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that we have to finish at 5 p.m. but I did interrupt the Deputy. I have two brief questions. I will return to issues that I have raised with the Minister of State for a number of years. There are flooding issues in Donegal that are part of the overall Estimates issue. The first relates to Castlefin. The Minister of State is familiar with this. I have raised it. Castlefin has flooded on a number of occasions. I will not go through the history again. What has happened is appalling. Castlefin flooded again as a result of Storm Jocelyn. I was in Castlefin and saw the damage that was done to homes, properties and businesses. I was on the N15, which is the main road there, at McGlynn's Restaurant. I saw the issues with the water that was coming down and the danger there. Part of this is part of the overall Castlefin flood relief scheme but, with our local councillor, Gary Doherty, who lives in Castlefin and knows this area, we stood in the road and looked at the damage that was being done and the risk to the properties there.

It is clear that this section needs to be prioritised and completed before the rest of the works. The N15 requires a new culvert across the national primary road and a non-return valve downstream to prevent water from backing up at this point. That would alleviate the pressure on businesses and households in that area. I have been asked to highlight that this has no impact on the River Finn or the special area of conservation. Therefore, this should be able to proceed while we are going through the motions on the other Castlefin flood relief scheme, which is a wider scheme, but this is part of it. I ask the Minister of State to think outside the box. These businesses were not flooded the last time around but they were very close to it. They are wondering if this is the third time they will be hit like this. I ask the Minister of State to look at the issue with Castlefin. Will he give a response on that first?