Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Michael McCarthy for giving me the opportunity to provide an update to the House by raising this important matter for the people of Skibbereen this evening. I assure him that his request that I give the matter my personal attention is one to which I am happy to accede.

I had an opportunity last Thursday to address the Seanad about flooding and to outline the following. In my five months in this job, I have visited many areas of the country that have been affected by flooding and heard at first hand the experiences of people who have seen their homes, businesses and farms damaged by flood waters. I am very aware of the hardship and, as the Deputy correctly puts it, utter devastation people have suffered because of flooding and appreciate the frustration that people such as the residents of Skibbereen feel at the length of time it takes to get a flood defence scheme in place. I assure the Deputy, the House and the people of Skibbereen at the outset that the Skibbereen scheme is a priority. It is a priority for me, the Government and the Office of Public Works. The preparatory work is being progressed as quickly as possible by Cork County Council working on behalf of and with funding from the OPW with a view to commencing construction as early as possible in 2015.

The council has been working on a proposed scheme since late 2009 when a severe flood event affected the town with more than 200 properties reported to have been flooded. With the assistance of OPW funding, the council appointed consultants in early 2011 to design a scheme to be brought forward for consultation with the public. The main proposals of the scheme include the construction of new walls and embankments along the River Ilen and some of its tributaries in the town, new pumping stations, localised channel regrading and improvements to the local drainage system. There have been many opportunities for the public to engage with the design team, including public information days held in March 2011 and January 2012, and the formal public exhibition over a four-week period in April and May 2013. A large number of submissions, some quite detailed, were made following the exhibition. This level of engagement and input from the local community in the development of a scheme is very important. Some submissions, for example, raised concerns over the levels of protection to be provided in certain areas based on past experiences of local people which led to a review of some aspects of the proposed scheme.

We have very good engineers in the OPW, as they have in Cork County Council, but no matter how good one's engineers are, one cannot beat the knowledge of local people who have experienced flooding themselves. I was very grateful to the people of Skibbereen for their input and the benefits there have been to the proposed scheme as a result. In recognition of the valuable contribution that local knowledge can make to fine-tuning scheme proposals, the OPW and Cork County Council requested the consultants to carry out further surveys and analysis to alleviate the concerns raised at the exhibition before determination of the next steps required to take the scheme forward. Following the completion of an exhibition report, all those who had made submissions were responded to and this resulted in further issues being raised by affected members of the public which had to be dealt with. This level of detailed engagement and consultation with the public is a time-consuming process and adds to the time taken to progress the development of the scheme design. It is, however, a very important part of the process and will ultimately lead to a better and more effective scheme for the people of Skibbereen.

With the assistance of its consultants on the scheme, Cork County Council commenced a procurement process for a civil works contractor to undertake the scheme works earlier this year with a view to having a contractor appointed towards the end of 2014. However, the procurement process has taken longer than anticipated for various reasons and is still ongoing, with the result that the council will not now be in a position to appoint a contractor in 2014. The council expects to be in a position to appoint a contractor early in 2015 with construction expected to take approximately 18 months. I understand the frustration that people feel at the length of time it has taken to bring the Skibbereen scheme to construction. I also understand the very real difficulties they have. I will touch on the insurance issue in my supplementary response, but I assure the Deputy that this is a priority for me. The funding is ring-fenced and the scheme will be delivered. I expect significant progress in early 2015.

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