James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would really appreciate that. To be clear on the Midleton question, there is a question on the minds of many members of the public and on mine as a newly elected public representative. This is my first term in the Dáil. We had the Covid pandemic for two years of this term and, understandably, many projects were impacted in terms of the ability of the Civil Service to process them. That is the only defence against the level of delay involved, but this has been going on for so much longer than what I am referring to. There was minor flooding in Midleton around, I think, 2014 or 2015, if I recall correctly. I apologise - I should know that off the tip of my tongue. I was in secondary school when that last occurred so I apologise for my ignorance on that. The issue for the people there is that they cannot understand how it takes such a long time for that to occur. I would really appreciate it, on Midleton specifically, if Mr. Moloney's Department could request a report, an explanatory memorandum, to explain why it has taken such a long time. I appreciate that Secretaries General and officials come and go, but we are adamant to get that done as a matter of urgency.

I want to refer as well, with the Chair's consent, to the existing infrastructural issues there now as a consequence of the flooding. Riverbanks have been significantly damaged and the level of the riverbanks there has lowered significantly in locations where walls had collapsed. That is putting Midleton at very serious risk of this happening again. People may ask why this is relevant to the Committee of Public Accounts, but, ultimately, it comes back to the Red Cross scheme and other schemes that are now in place whereby taxpayers will have to spend somewhere south of €100 million and over €50 million on repairing the damage in my municipal district alone, one small parcel of the country. It is disturbing how much damage has been done by these freak weather events. We know they will occur more often. There is a lot to be said for having something like the US Federal Emergency Management Agency or other instruments whereby there is an instant pot of money available for local authorities to go in and do the necessary work. They are basically awaiting further financial support from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, then coming from Mr. Moloney's Department, which has to authorise it. I communicate that message to the witnesses on that front because it has to be done.