Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I point out to Deputy Martin that the scheme in England is only going live now. It took five years to put together and it excludes small businesses and houses built since 2009. Some £40 million was spent on Carlisle but it did not work. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for the Office of Public Works is developing the CFRAM detailed response which includes 66 locations on the Shannon and 300 nationally. Some €420 million is to be spent over the next five years and €1 billion over the next decade to deal with flood defences in various locations nationally. Bandon would have been done by now but there were objections and it is a similar situation in Enniscorthy. I was in Craughwell the other day where people were very distraught. The new bridge acted as a dam. The old bridge never blocked. Houses were flooded and there was damage, frustration and great annoyance.

Lessons are learned from all of these floods. The first point of emergency contact must be the local authority. The representative of all the local authorities, Mr. Brendan McGrath, gave a detailed response at each of the 30 meetings of the national co-ordination group.

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