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

I join other Members of the House in sympathising with all those who have been adversely affected by the recent weather emergencies and, in particular, the loved ones of those who have lost their lives, including tourists who were visiting the country. I realise only too well the devastation that can be caused to homes, businesses and properties, and the terrible sense of helplessness when flood waters rise above the sandbags and threaten to destroy everything in their path. As a society and as communities, we need to band together at times like this and do as much as we can to protect each other from harm, and to provide help where it is needed. In that spirit, I pay a particular tribute to all those who have gone to great lengths over the past eight or nine weeks to help those who have been in trouble and to deal with the after-effects. These include local authority staff, staff from the Department of Social Protection, Coast Guard volunteers, the emergency services, transport workers in CIE and other operators, the Civil Defence and, of course, the very many good samaritans who responded to the immediate needs of their friends and neighbours.

The flooding events of recent weeks have been exceptional and the Government has decided to make exceptional provision to deal with their consequences. Before I address that, however, I acknowledge that, in the transport sector, weather conditions cause significant damage to our infrastructure every year. For that reason, the financial allocations for roads and other elements of our infrastructure are always intended to cover the costs of repairs and restoration arising from weather related damage almost every year. To take regional and local roads, for example, where most of the damage tends to occur, all Members will be aware that the maintenance and repair of these roads is the statutory function of local authorities. The Exchequer provides grants to supplement the local authorities' own spending and resources, not to cover the full cost.

Last month, I announced regional and local road allocations to local authorities totalling €332 million. Given the severity of our fiscal position, these grants are running well below the level of previous years and, for that reason, the main focus of all available funding is on the maintenance and repair of existing roads rather than on new schemes or improvements. In current circumstances, we have to prioritise the maintenance and restoration of our existing assets over and above the addition of new assets. Therefore, even though there was a 17% cut to the local and regional roads budget, when it came to roads maintenance, repair and restoration, there was actually an increase. This was made possible because so many of the improvement schemes have been suspended.

This year, I have given the local authorities more discretion than they have ever had in deciding how to make best use of the funding I allocate to them. This will enable them to have greater flexibility in addressing priority repair works. I have to recognise, however, that the storm damage to regional and local roads has been so extreme in certain counties that it will not be possible to address them within the normal allocations. Therefore, the Government has agreed that, in transport as in other areas, additional allocations will be made to rectify the problems in the areas that are most badly affected.

The Cabinet yesterday considered a report on the costs arising from the first sequence of severe weather, which ran from 13 December to 6 January. In due course we will get an additional report on the additional costs that have arisen from the more recent episodes of storm damage and flooding which have occurred throughout the month of January and into February. Indeed, the storms today have been very severe. I have been in touch with the various transport operators during the day. As I speak, 260,000 homes are without power, Cork and Shannon airports have had to suspend services for a period of time, and indeed a small aircraft at Shannon was tipped on its wing. Train services from Heuston to the south west have been cancelled and many bus services in the south west have been cancelled as well.

The exceptional costs to local authorities in regard to the restoration of damaged roads have been estimated at just over €16 million. The Government has agreed to provide that amount in a supplementary allocation to the counties concerned. While most counties will require some level of support, certain counties were particularly badly affected and will each require very substantial funding. I will give just two examples. First, in County Waterford, the bill for roads comes to almost €4 million. The promenade wall was breached in Tramore and part of the road was washed away, and a number of other roads were also damaged. Second, County Galway will require support of almost €3 million. Sections as long as 200 m to 300 m were washed away on nine coastal loop roads. Many causeway walls, footpaths and car parks were damaged and access to a number of houses was cut off when a coastal road was washed away. These will, of course, have to be restored as soon as weather conditions permit. Other counties that were particularly badly affected include Mayo, Clare, Kerry, Cork and Wexford.

Other transport infrastructure, in addition to roads, has also been damaged by the extreme weather. The Government has agreed to provide €5 million to larnród Éireann to deal with the major damage which arose mainly at three mainline stations - Kent Station in Cork, Pearse Station in Dublin and Plunkett Station in Waterford. Some €1.5 million will be provided to the OPW and Clare County Council to repair embankments which protect Shannon Airport, as well as the industrial estate and the town of Shannon.

There will also be a small provision of around €50,000 for some coastguard station houses, which have been very badly damaged along the west coast. There will also be significant repair costs in a number of port companies but as port companies are entirely commercial entities and receive no State income, they will have to meet the cost of these repairs from their own resources.

It is too soon to say whether the recent storms and floods will cause major damage in the transport sector on a scale that would require a further supplementary provision to be made. The Government will return to this question when fresh assessments have been made. For now, I am pleased to be in a position to be able to provide very significant extra support to deal with the very exceptional damage caused by the storms of late December and early January.

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