Mr. Jim Casey:

I can understand the frustrations of the community. That is why we are looking to bring forward interim measures as a matter of urgency in the meantime. We would like to deliver flood relief schemes a lot faster than is happening at the moment and we are looking at how we might do so. Some of the reasons it is taking so long in the case of Midleton is due to the complexity of Midleton. All four mechanisms of flooding are impacting on the community of Midleton, namely, tidal, fluvial, groundwater and pluvial. It is quite a complex flood problem and extensive environmental assessments and surveys have to be carried out on that. We have to come up with a scheme that meets the requirements of the community in consultation with local stakeholders. We do have to comply with all the regulatory and legislative frameworks that are there, including all the environmental frameworks. We are doing that as quickly as possible. There are constraints in the marketplace in terms of the services we need, such as the engineering design services and the environmental specialist services and in the carrying out of those services.

It does take a long time. Some of those surveys-----