Mr. Maurice Buckley:

On the impact of climate change, we are working with two scenarios, namely, a half-metre sea level rise and a one-metre rise. Each of the 118 schemes looks at what will have to change if and when these two things happen. It varies scheme by scheme. In one scheme it might be necessary to design a physical defence strong enough to withstand an increase of a few hundred millimetres in 50 or 100 years. In Clonakilty, a major scheme involves relief channels around the town, which are designed to cope with the middle scenario, if not the extreme scenario, without further intervention. In other cases we would need to start again and have new interventions if and when the extremes arise.

Nobody knows when something will happen but we talk of a timeline up to 2100, though it could be sooner or later. The programme is dictated by the capacity available in the market and by funding. They are reasonably well aligned and there is €1 billion over the ten years of the national development plan for this purpose. All the 118 schemes have been planned and they will, more or less, absorb all the appropriate civil engineering and design capacity the country has, which will lead to a capacity clinch because many of the same companies will be involved in building.

We project an increase in our annual spend from some €50 million per year to €100 million per year by 2021. We have prioritised the 118 schemes on the basis of the cost benefit to the houses which are protected. There are 50 high-priority schemes and the www.floodinfo.iewebsite will allow somebody to see, in detail, the plans for every county and region in Ireland.