Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many have been completed, such as those in Bandon, on the River Tolka and in many other locations. Other schemes are under way or about to start. The Deputy is quite right that sea levels are rising as a consequence of climate change.

Even with us reducing emissions dramatically over the next couple of decades, sea levels will continue to rise because of the cumulative effect of CO2 in our atmosphere. Therefore, we need to plan for this. Thankfully, it will not happen next year, but it has started already and will happen over the course of the next century. We need to plan ahead for that. In some places that may mean major flood defences and sea defences. In other places it may mean saying to communities that they will have to be relocated. Considerable work is being done on that at the moment. I anticipate that the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, will be able to bring some detailed work on that to a Cabinet sub-committee before Christmas.

See this speech in context