Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the responsibility for river maintenance, outside the rivers maintained by the Office of Public Works, OPW, under the arterial drainage Acts, the local authorities and the OPW are facing a limbo where no one has responsibility for maintaining those rivers. It is particularly acute in Donegal where massive damage was done as a result of the flooding in August. Rivers have been very significantly damaged but there is no one to take responsibility for addressing the problem, fixing them or to maintain them in the future. Will the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government tell us what engagement he has had with the Minister of State with responsibility for flooding in the OPW? Action is necessary. What action, if any, does the Minister propose to take to ensure that someone takes responsibility for maintaining these rivers and works with landowners on them, ultimately ensuring that they can be fixed, in the case of Donegal, and maintained on an ongoing basis so that we can protect against the type of massive flood damage that we have experienced on too many occasions recently?

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