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

I accept that the Minister of State has done what he can on an interim basis. The Minister of State has visited on many occasions. Nobody can fault him for his sincerity and the follow-ups he has done on his visits. I know some people will be angered by me saying this but on the whole, as Ministers go, the Minister of State has been very diligent in being responsive to questions on these issues in the Dáil. This needs to be acknowledged but I want to make this point once more: when a scheme has been sitting there since 2018, it is a bit like telling a community that a new bus is coming but the engine is missing. It has been sitting there idle when it could be put in place and done with a limited amount of funding in comparison to what is required for major schemes. We are not talking about something of the complexity of the Midleton flood relief scheme, which is trying to protect against fluvial and tidal flooding. It is not at the mouth of a river; it is on top of a hill. It requires drainage channels to be dug. We also need to look at the potential impacts of drainage in the village. Castlemartyr is probably more complex than Rathcormac but both of them are stuck in the CFRAM tranche 2 and have been there for some time. I come from Killeagh, which flooded for the first time in recorded history during Storm Babet. I do not underestimate the seriousness of Storm Babet. It changed the landscape totally. People who know Killeagh and east Cork from walking Glenbower Wood and other areas can see that the storm physically changed the land in the area. The tranche 2 schemes have been sitting there a long time. It has gone from people being patient to having legitimate concerns about the length of time these schemes are taking.