Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It has been a little over a year now since west Clare and many parts of the west were very damaged by unprecedented storms. It seems like a lot longer but time flies when one is having fun and the reverse is also true. For the people who live there, the intervening period has not been entirely satisfactory. They have seen considerable delays in repairing a lot of the damage that was done to public infrastructure. There were 43 impacted sites identified by Clare County Council after the weather events, and of these, 15 have by now been fully restored and 28 require further work. Clare County Council estimated the cost of works required to address the damage from the storms at approximately €36 million, which included both the cost of repair and reinforcement works.

To date, €17.6 million has been provided for the council for repair works only. Repair works have been carried out in a number of locations, including Liscannor, White Strand and Kilbaha. The Minister of State will be glad to hear repairs to essential tourism infrastructure have been carried out and there are works in progress in other areas, including works which recently began on the Kilkee seawall, all of which is funded by national Government.

However, the allocation from the Office of Public Works is for repairing infrastructure only and not for new or upgraded storm defences. I have been quite critical of Clare County Council over the past 12 months for its failure to advance the repair works given the damage caused, the impact this has on communities which must relive the damage caused by those events and the impact there could be on tourism. Clare County Council has explained to me that, in some instances, the reason it has not spent that money is that it wants to see upgraded storm defences and it does not want to spend money on repairs on something which could be swept away again in the next spring tide. This may well have been a one in a hundred year storm, although it may not have been.

Clare County Council has applied for feasibility studies for seven of ten locations which have been identified as needing storm defence work. We had a meeting in a room on the ministerial corridor with residents of Clohanhinchy who described the harrowing events of that night. Funding has been granted for a feasibility study there. Clare County Council has also applied for feasibility studies for seven other sites to date. Applications have been made in respect of Kilbaha, Clahane and Flaggy Shore, which were sent to the OPW on 5 January 2015 while applications for Lahinch, White Strand, Miltown Malbay and Ross Bay were sent in on 12 January 2015 but there has been no reply to date. The council is currently preparing applications for money for feasibility studies in respect of Spanish Point, Quilty and Liscannor. Will the Minister expedite the applications for moneys?

While I was critical of Clare County Council for not doing more work, there is a compelling logic to what it says that there is no point spending scarce resources on repairing something which could require repair again in a mere season's or two seasons' time. On that basis, I would like an assurance that it will be expedited.

There is also the matter of a minor works application for damage to embankments along the Shannon Estuary and at Clohanhinchy. The IFA has been involved in compiling and putting forward that application. There is considerable confusion in regard to it and a public meeting was called quite recently. The Minister of State's office offered me certain assurances but again, I would like an assurance that application will be dealt with expeditiously and, I hope, with a positive outcome.

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