Mr. Ezra MacManamon:

I thank the commissioner. On the phasing and delivery of the project, as the commissioner, Mr. Sydenham, has said, there will be disruption involved in the construction of the project. There is no avoiding that. This is an essential public infrastructure project. However, the project's delivery has been broken up into phases. One of the aspects which has driven the breaking up of the project into phases is the desire to manage, control and minimise the disruption to the city which will arise from the project's construction. If members still have copies of the presentation, I would refer them to page 20 where there is an indication and description of the phasing of the project. It indicates that the first three phases of the project will start off with the Morrison's Island element, which is a localised area in the city centre, to which the commissioner referred. This element will be led by Cork City Council under the Part 8 planning process. While that is a small area in terms of disruption, because it only has one quay side on which there are not many businesses in operation, it will protect the vast majority of the city centre, through the Grand Parade area, Oliver Plunkett Street and Patrick Street, from tidal flooding. In 2014, that area of the city centre was flooded and hundreds of properties were affected. That phase will protect those hundred of properties when it is initially implemented.

Looking upstream, the next phase of the project will be from Inniscarra dam down to the area of the Kingsley Hotel. That is the bulk of the 19 km which the commissioner, Mr. Sydenham, mentioned earlier in his presentation. Construction of those works will be out in the open countryside. The works are being constructed on agricultural lands. Again, that will not cause any significant construction in the city area. Following on from that there will be a phase which will cover from the Kingsley Hotel to the area of the Tyndall National Institute. This phase moves down through parkland, Fitzgerald Park and the tennis club area of the city. Again I emphasis that is an area in which there are not many businesses in operation or a lot of traffic. Very little disruption to business in the city will arise from that phase. The vast majority of the benefit and the protection will be provided between those three phases. After that-----