Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Kavanagh mentioned Cork County Council. Historically, very clear protocols were set in place, whereby early warning systems in place for local authority staff are in towns such as Mallow and Fermoy. It is pertinent we are speaking about Mallow and Fermoy because they will have a bearing on what happens in Cork city down the line, in terms of their early warning systems, which are now so robust that the response times of staff in local authorities are extraordinary. They are par excellence. This is because of the historical nature of flooding events. What I am trying to glean, and we will have an opportunity to ask the Minister, is where the local authorities actually feed into the OPW processes on early warning systems and those exchanges of information. What Mr. Kavanagh has articulated is that there is still a gap between Insurance Ireland and the OPW on a raft of issues that need to be articulated and highlighted.