Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will reiterate a number of things. The chair of the OPW was talking about the five-year investment programme of €430 million by the Government for flood relief. There was another issue of the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, which is a ten-year plan. People have suggested that it means nothing will happen for ten years, which is wrong. Last year we had four flood relief schemes under construction. By the end of this year, there will be 12 relief schemes under construction in the country. There are more than 20 schemes in different stages of planning and design. The minor works, which I explained to the Deputy, have so far delivered protection to 4,500 properties.

To return to one other issue that came up, the Office of Emergency Planning will launch its Be Winter Ready campaign on 9 November. The Department is helping with that and is part of that group. The lead is being taken by the Department of Defence. There is no way we are leaving anything for five years. We are doing everything we can at this stage.

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