Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to commend the Minister of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, on the work he has done with the OPW in dealing with local authorities. If possible, I ask the Minister to pass that on. As a Louth county councillor, I met the Minister of State a number of times. He has done some works and site visits. At Balmer's Bog, for example, the preliminary works are already about to start.

We are dealing specifically with climate change. It is not that startling to state that we are looking at the possibility, or rather, beyond the possibility, of dealing with the actuality of greater rainfall, greater storms and greater flood risk difficulties. I am very glad that there is room within the CFRAM and flood protection plans for adaptations. Deputies have spoken about being parochial. I am going to be incredibly parochial. We are talking about 300 communities and 3 million people across the State whose homes are at risk of flooding. I think everyone is aware that County Louth has a fair number of coastal areas and has suffered from a significant amount of flooding over the years. We have welcomed the CFRAM proposals. I will look for an update from the Minister on the specifics. It is a matter of the timeline and the deliverables. I accept that the local authority is involved in this, but it is also a question of whether room is allowed, possibly even within the proposed new programme for Government, for what will happen in the future regarding a need to adapt not only the plans but also the costings. We are talking about Dundalk and what is called Blackrock south. I think what was envisaged for the area was costed previously at approximately €40.5 million. Then we are talking about Carlingford-Greenore, which is costed at up to €24 million. Drogheda is costed at in or around €17 million, combined with the possibility of Baltray. Then there are question marks over Annagassan and Termonfeckin. I want to see where they are because they are proposed just on the basis of funding, etc., but with the greater difficulties we have of climate change, we need to ensure that we completely secure these areas and the communities that live in them. I refer to Dundalk in particular. I would not like to see my house go underwater. People in my estate, Bay Estate, and surrounding areas already have difficulties with insurance. I do not want to get into the ins and outs or rights and wrongs relating to the activities of insurance companies, but this is an issue many people are dealing with across the board. Could I have an update on the costs and the future-proofing? I would also like an update on any interaction there has been with Louth County Council. The latter is awaiting OPW authorisation in order that it can appoint consultants to start these works. I would like that to happen as quickly as possible. Our constituency also covers parts of coastal Meath and Mornington. I would like an update on the CFRAM works there.

The big thing is to ensure that these works happen within a dedicated timeline because, as time goes on, the dangers and difficulties will become greater. We need to ensure that this all happens as quickly as possible and that if there are particular danger areas and quick wins, they can be seen, attested and put into operation as soon as possible.

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