Mr. Vincent Campbell:

On the size of our spend for 2016, in the year we are targeting somewhere in the order of €67 million or €68 million in total. That will be broken down with up to €52 million on major schemes, which is a significant spend in delivery. That is represented by 12 major schemes at construction stage, which is unprecedented. However, it also takes on board that there is in the order of 21 further schemes at various stages of development, with six of those due to go to construction during 2017. As I mentioned earlier, on an annual basis we spend in the order of €15 million per annum maintaining our arterial channels. We target somewhere in the order of 2,000 km for maintenance per annum, so over a five-year rolling basis we target 11,500 km of channel. It is a significant amount of ongoing work. There is certainly not a slow-down in any way of commitment or activity right across the various spheres.

In total, we are talking about just under €70 million of activity all going towards flood relief works. By 2021, we will go to €100 million when the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management, CFRAM, programme comes on board. Mr. Adamson can speak about that. Basically, coming up to €100 million per annum is a significant ratcheting up of activity. With each of those schemes, a significant period is taken from identification to development to going through the various phases, whether it is planning, public exhibition or down to going through environmental impact assessments. There are different steps through the process that take considerable time. Ultimately, what is being developed and put in place by the Office of Public Works, OPW, are schemes that will meet the 100-year target. In essence, these projects are not meeting an event of five or ten years but a 100-year event. It is important to point that out. There are schemes that we have put in place that I can speak to the committee about and none has failed. It is important to point that out and with the time put in, one can see benefits of major flood risk schemes in the various communities.