Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We should finish by 5 p.m., although I do not think we will. We will do our best. I will accommodate the meeting by keeping my contribution as short as possible.

First, I thank the Minister and Ministers of State for coming before the committee. The importance of them being present is evident. I do not propose to go through the entire agenda line by line as that would take us until tomorrow morning. I have in the past gone through it in such detail but not today, although other members will no doubt do that.

With regard to CFRAM and the delays associated with flooding problems throughout the country, it goes without saying that, in many cases, objections have arisen in localities because of the proposals to address the issue. It happened in my own constituency and although, fortunately, the objections were withdrawn, it takes time and interrupts the process. When the process is interrupted, it may well create a problem further down the line. Generally, the OPW does a good, effective job in dealing with that. Unfortunately, the sensitivity to flooding is associated with the time of the flooding, not the previous time, and that is what we need to recognise. My colleague raised the issue earlier. In my constituency, we saw bales of hay floating in the month of July because there was a need for CFRAM, which was in train. It has now been done and it works extremely well.

Likewise, it is no harm to remember that major arterial drainage of rivers has been neglected on the basis that it is good for the environment. I do not accept that. I believe it is essential that main drainage areas are accommodated in so far as possible in order to get the water out of the way and into some other area where there is an outfall and it can be disposed of. We suffered the consequences of that a few years ago in Sallins in my constituency, where the water levels went up almost to the top of the doors in a few hours. That was because the attenuation tanks, which are the modern method of slowing down the discharge of water for environmental reasons, did not work and they filled up quickly. That is the nature of flooding: it happens quickly. Through local organisation, we dug a short trench across a road, which lowered the water level in three quarters of an hour and it came down from the level of the tops of the doors. That is by way of illustration of how effective intervention in an area can be. Deputy Tóibín spoke about how long it takes to do these things and it sometimes takes longer than it should but, at the same time, people’s hearts are in the right place and we have made progress.

My final point in this area concerns the drainage of the River Boyne which had to be undertaken and, gladly, was undertaken. My colleague will no doubt speak about that as well. This affects my constituency also because a huge area benefits from it. I know there were objections and concerns at the time but the fact is that fisheries still continue and fishing still takes place in the Boyne. There was also the drainage of the River Moy in County Mayo which took place many years ago. It was predicted that there would be no more fish in the river but four or five years ago, there were still more salmon caught in the River Moy than in England, Scotland and Wales together. That proved that particular point.

I want to raise a further issue that is close to my heart, and the Minister of State will be familiar with this. A stately home in my constituency, Castletown House, is currently under threat, allegedly, according to the Department, by virtue of the tenacity of the local population, who have objected to the proposals laid down by the OPW in regard to it. This is a stately home of historical, architectural, community and tourism interest that is a very important issue in the area. It transpired that a new owner of the adjoining property had proposed to cease to allow access to the property that is owned by the OPW - the stately home and 230 acres - and it is now for the OPW to open up what was the main entrance to the stately home 240 years ago. Unfortunately, the situation has changed a lot in 200 years and what was the appropriate and only entrance available to the Department is no longer practicable. It would emit onto the main street of Celbridge a traffic volume that cannot and should not be contained in the main street. Previously, there was provision with the previous owner under licence but that has now been withdrawn.

Developments have taken place in the last few days. Rather than talking about it after the event, I believe we should deal with this now as a matter of urgency. To my mind, the crucial issue is that access to a stately home that is owned by the State comes first when it comes to a right of way, which the State can share with the adjoining landowner. However, if we do not do that now, we are going to be in a backwash, we will have no influence whatsoever, things will proceed without us and the train will have left the station. It is important to all of the public representatives in the area and the community, who are not unreasonable. They have made their case and if they had not made their case, they would have been accused of not being alert to what was happening. I am not in favour of wildcat decisions or anything like that, but I will strongly defend the rights of people who are represented by anybody, where there is clear evidence that they are correct in their assessment. Without their intervention, access to the house in question would be history.

I thank the Chairman for allowing me to raise this. I recognise that it may be a small blip on the horizon. It is a big issue locally. There is no need for the Department to continue on the line because it is unsustainable. Legal action has to take place. It is a rumour because it has not been tried. The OPW said it has another entrance. It does not have another entrance; it does not exist. We are only cutting ourselves as long as we go down that road.