Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I remind Deputies that the review has already commenced. At the end of the final NECG meeting this morning, we began with a debrief on how people felt initially. We heard their initial concerns and views on what approaches might have worked better. Everything will be co-ordinated in that way. The local authorities are represented on the NECG, and they will be part of that review.

On the issue of funding for roads, what I said to the local authority representatives is that we would be there to meet the expenses that have arisen in responding to the storm. As such, they would have no doubt that if they needed to contract people to help clear roads or keep staff on overtime, the Government would be there to help them manage, as we did in Storm Ophelia and previous storms. That commitment was made in advance, and we confirmed it through the memo that I brought to Cabinet yesterday. That memo informed the Cabinet that the process has begun. We are asking local authorities to give us an assessment of the costs incurred in response to Storm Emma as soon as they can. We will then meet those costs as we can.

The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, and I have talked about the possibility of creating a standing fund because these severe events now seem to be coming more frequently. Thus, there would never be any doubt and I would not have to issue that clarification or that statement at the NECG to the local authorities in advance of a weather event. They would know it was there and how to draw it down.

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