Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My final question relates to climate adaptation. We saw the recent devastating flooding in central Europe. My question is primarily about continental Europe but I have a domestic angle to it as well. The ECA scrutinises the finances of this and the leadership of the strategies. Where larger rivers in particular in Europe curl and meander their way through several countries, is enough being done at a co-ordinated, pan-European level for some of those rivers? One of the reasons I ask is we met the Dutch ambassador to Dublin here informally last year. I asked how they were able to have their watercourses pretty well dredged and yet be compliant with all European environmental laws. Whenever we try to dredge a river in Ireland, we are told there are special protection areas, wildlife and everything. I asked the Dutch ambassador how it was they are able to do it. We all come under the same mothership of Europe's environmental laws, so how are they able to do it? His explanation, and I hope I am doing him justice, was that on a river, the northern bank could be a protected habitat but the southern bank might not be, so they dredge from the southern side and habitats should continue on one side and not on the other. I thought it was a very innovative approach from a country that has known its fair share of flooding.

Beyond looking at the financing of solutions and mitigating measures, has the ECA looked at how things are co-ordinated overall? That seems like a very smart approach but I do not think the smart approach is that applicable in other European countries, including our own at times. That could be a question beyond Mr. Murphy's remit.