Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Harris and Doyle for raising this issue, which I know is of great concern to the people of Wicklow. The House will by now be familiar with the preamble to debates concerning our national roads network and any plans regarding their future development, but here it is again. I am not passing the buck here but am simply explaining the legal position. As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding relating to the national roads programme. The planning, design and implementation of individual road projects is a matter for the National Roads Authority, NRA under the Roads Acts 1993 to 2007, in conjunction with the local authorities concerned.

The NRA has a budget of €318 million for improvement and maintenance works on the national roads network in 2013. Given the current financial position, the priority has to be given to maintenance and repair of roads, and this will remain the position in the coming years. The statutory position is that, within the capital and current budgets set by my Department, the NRA and local authorities, in their capacity as road authorities, are responsible for overseeing the operation of the national road network, including any engineering reviews or maintenance. In this context, section 13 of the Roads Act specifies that, subject to the functions assigned to the NRA in the legislation, the maintenance and construction of all national and regional roads in a county or city is a function of the council of that county or city and I as Minister have no role in such operational issues.

The M11, like all motorways not the subject of a public private partnership, is maintained by the relevant local authority. The location at Old Connaught is at the very southern end of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area, bordering on County Wicklow. I understand that flooding first occurred early in the morning of Friday, 22 March due to heavy and persistent overnight rain and as the maintaining authority responsible, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council engineering and other staff attended the site when they became aware of an issue. Pumps and road sweepers were also on site from an early hour. Personnel present on site on Friday, 22 March could clearly see that water was running down the side slopes of the motorway cut. Thus, the motorway drainage system had to drain not just the motorway but also run-off from surrounding housing developments and lands, and clearly it was not capable of doing so.

The section of motorway in question did not have a history of flooding until recent times. Some flooding was experienced in late January of this year. Previous intense rainfall events, such as the October 2011 flooding in Dublin ,did not result in major flooding of the motorway at this location. Subsequent to the January 2013 flooding, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council carried out some remedial work in the area.

I understand that investigations into the flooding are under way and are focusing on two questions. First, what was causing run-off onto the motorway from surrounding developments, when previously this does not appear to have been a problem? Second, is there an issue with the performance of the motorway drainage system? I also understand that a CCTV survey of the motorway drainage system is being undertaken and a series of site surveys are under way to assess the condition of the motorway drainage system and to investigate the performance of the local road and land drainage network to the west of the M11. A final report is expected shortly and I look forward to its recommendations being acted upon.

See this speech in context