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

This is very positive and I thank Mr. Walsh. Deputy Stanton and I had a meeting with Cork County Council's chief executive and senior executives after Storm Babet. As the witnesses know, substantial damage was done to the national road infrastructure. Even more damage was done to regional and local roads to the tune of approximately €50 million. The national road cost is in the high millions of euro and I am not sure what the figure is. There has been an issue with culverts and flooding along the same stretch of road. There are incomplete culverts to drain water from the roads. I am not a geologist or an engineer with expertise in flooding or hydrology but the issue with the culverts has definitely had consequences for the village of Mogeely. The Gleann Fia estate there was substantially flooded. The travel of the water towards existing river channels through culverts is extremely important in and around the section of road between Killeagh and Castlemartyr. It had devastating consequences for the homes and houses there. There is an urgency in delivering further infrastructure at this section in particular. It is near enough to Knockane. I am not quite sure what the townland is but Knockane is the nearest townland on the Castlemartyr side. Will the witnesses check this issue? Cork County Council has raised it as a red flag issue and something that needs to be addressed.