Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Leader funding is also important to less rural counties. It impact is primarily outside the capital city and it is an extremely important fund. There have been criticisms of the fact that in some areas there is a queue of projects, while others do not have the same throughput. It is important that a close eye is kept on the funding and that it is distributed to schemes that are ready to roll.

Storm damage is a feature of climate change. In my local authority, we had three 100-year floods in one decade, which makes one question whether the measurement is always accurate. If such events are this frequent, there is a need to anticipate and factor them in. We should examine the areas that have constant problems with storm damage. The OPW has done some good work. We should anticipate weather damage and ensure the susceptible areas are not impacted rather than paying for clean-up costs afterwards. How we spend the money is the issue. This might not go into the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government's budget but that of the OPW.