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

I understand that there is a lot of interest in the Galway scheme. I was glad to get the perspective of the engineers from the city council, our own people on the ground and some local people. Many people have many different perspectives about what should or, more importantly, should not happen. You will always hear about what should not happen. We know it is a very vulnerable part of the coast line, particularly around the Spanish Arch. This area has many very old properties and residents and is really vulnerable. The situation is not going to get better any time soon. Great credit must go to Galway City Council for the interim measures it deploys, which work. However, they only work up to a point. The design consultants were appointed in November 2020. It is due to go into planning permission in the second quarter of 2024. If everything goes to plan, it will commence construction in 2025.

My view is that a massive overhaul of the planning legislation around not only flood relief schemes but major public infrastructural projects is needed so we can deliver them faster.

The reason being that if we do not, as the Deputy knows as she represents a coastal community, the climate will be changing faster than how we, the OPW and Galway City Council, are able to respond to those communities. How many more storms like Storm Barra will lash the west of Ireland? The opportunity falls to the Oireachtas to decide which is more important. Is it the legislation that we are saying is not up for negotiation by way of say, for instance, judicial review, or the communities whom we claim to represent? I think that that is going to be fundamental to the people we represent. We must grapple with that because I have with me the files of the flood relief schemes and the bulk of them are stuck somewhere in a court somewhere in Ireland. That is not sustainable.