Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Before doing that, I might advise the Deputy that Cork City Council and Met Éireann actually do that. During the last severe weather event in Cork, an intervention by Cork City Council, the Office of Public Works and the ESB prevented an event similar to the one that happened in 2009.

Perhaps the Deputy might like to do what I do, which is to talk to the business people and the people in Cork who have had to wade through sewage, faeces, urine and sludge. He might want to ask them whether they want to wait for a barrier which may hypothetically work out in the sea but which will not protect them from rain flooding or whether they want to get on with the delivery of scheme which will work in the city centre. He should come back to me when he has done that.