Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply. I acknowledge the engagement by the Office of Public Works and the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, with Galway County Council on a range of flood defence issues. Last year, there were a series of storms which caused coastal erosion. The old proverb says that "A stitch in time, saves nine", so expenditure now can save future expenditure. There are plenty of examples whereby coastal defence issues have been identified by local communities for a long time. Funding was not available, however, because of uncertainly over whether responsibility lay with the OPW, the county council, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

A small amount of expenditure could have prevented major expenditure last year on particular problems. There are also ongoing problems on private property, for example, in Dog's Bay which is a world-renowned area near Ballyconneely and Roundstone in Connemara. No money is available for coastal defences there since it is private property. In addition, no money has been identified at all for the second round of storms that occurred in February 2014. Money was made available quickly following the storms in January 2014, but not for the storm damage in February 2014. These issues are ongoing. If an inventory is supplied by local authorities to identify the areas affected, the Minister could put in place a rolling fund for the OPW for the protection of existing coastal defences.

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