Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It would be good for the committee to be informed when the OPW has the full picture.

With regard to floods, our adviser from Maynooth made a very good point that when we are doing mitigation measures, we need to have adaptation in mind. To use that analysis in a different way, when we are doing flood protection measures, we should look at nature protection at the same time. There is widespread concern that the flood protection measures the OPW is engaged in are highly disruptive of natural systems. I could cite many examples. The current issue which may be drawing most attention is the Blackwater flood management near Bandon where, on a daily basis, we see trucks driving up and down rivers in the middle of the sensitive spawning season. The whole river has been destroyed. Why is the OPW doing flood management in a way that is destroying rivers? The Blackwater is not an unimportant river.