Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his statement. It understandably had a clear focus on flooding and it must be acknowledged that there has been a great deal of work done in that area in recent years. I commend, in particular, the outgoing Minster of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, on his work. He brought with him to the role a personal credibility on the issue which he practised as Minister of State. We have seen him in some very well-circulated media photographs up to his waist in floodwater but he always backed up those kinds of high-profile media photographs with actual policy and action and he was always very accessible to Deputies during the last Dáil. I commend him and his work very highly.

My first question relates to the role of afforestation and strong afforestation schemes in flood mitigation measures. What is the current thinking in the OPW in this regard? Every community in the country can point to a location, be it a very small stream or a system as large and complex as the River Shannon, where there has been increased flooding and damage in recent years. What is constantly put forward as a solution is a strong afforestation scheme on banks to absorb soakage. I am very interested in the Minister's answer to this question.

Where I am a bit disappointed in the Minister's statement is in the area of coastal erosion and protections. We have 7,500 km or thereabouts of coastline and the vast majority of that coastline is unprotected. The eastern seaboard in particular is going through a long-term and continual recession and attack. This is part of the climate emergency, with shifting sea trends, melting polar ice caps and fluctuating temperatures. All of that is having an impact on our sea flows and tides. Where coastlines are vulnerable is where the most damage is being done.

One of those areas of severe vulnerability is the Donabate-Portrane Peninsula, which is between the Rogerstown Estuary to the north and the Broadmeadow Estuary to the south. Within the Donabate-Portrane Peninsula is the Burrow in Portrane, which is a peninsula on a peninsula. The damage there has been well documented down through the years but it has seen untold damage over the past seven to eight years. I credit the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who visited the site at the invitation of my predecessor, former Deputy Brendan Ryan, and the outgoing Minister of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, who visited a couple of years ago, for getting work done and getting Fingal County Council to start providing, at first, short-term measures and then a plan for long-term solutions. Unfortunately, that is not happening in the way it needs to happen.

What are in place at the Burrow in Portrane are what are called seabees, which are large hexagonal concrete structures designed to protect the properties and habitat there. They have been placed along a middle stretch of the beach but do not extend down to the south end where there are public toilets that are 2 ft away from falling into the sea. Something this pandemic has brought about is a discussion on how much we need public toilet facilities throughout the country. They were taken away in the 1970s and 1980s and we need them back. In the case of a popular amenity like the beach at Portrane, if that public toilet becomes further compromised and falls into the sea, it will take an extremely long time to replace it. Beside the public toilets is a premises containing a thriving business, Piper's takeaway, in which two families, including four children, are living. Their property is under massive stress. There is a green space and an access way to the beach, which are also under imminent threat. An extension of the seabees 100 yd south to protect this area is urgently needed.

North of where the seabees are currently located, we need further protection for the properties on Beach Lane. The residents there have always been two or three steps ahead of the OPW, the council and the public representatives on this issue. They can see what is happening with their own eyes. As I said, two Ministers of State have visited the location and I am now extending an invitation to the incoming Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW to visit the site at his or her earliest convenience. I ask the Minister to leave that request on the desk for whomever the new Minister of State will be. We have already seen one house fall into the sea and we cannot see any more. We cannot let the good work that has been done be totally undermined by the fact that it has not been done completely. These areas are under imminent threat.

The Burrow is a special area of conservation but the very habitats that are supposed to be conserved are under threat. The little tern project is under way there, which requires a shingle beach to be protected as the little terns nest on it and their eggs are camouflaged in the shingles. If the erosion and secretion of sand continues on the beach, all of that will be taken away. The dunes that have already evaporated have taken away habitat for other birds and butterflies, damaging biodiversity in the location. Coastal erosion is not the only problem. In addition, the whole peninsula is prone to flooding. We have areas such as Corballis, which is on the Broadmeadow Estuary side of the peninsula, where families have been blocked in by regular flooding.

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It is an area of extreme vulnerability. I ask that the incoming Minister and his or her Department increase their focus on it.

The Minister has not mentioned this but I would like it to be clear that we cannot countenance a policy of managed retreat when it comes to coastal erosion. We do have in our power the ability to provide protections and defences against this onslaught. We cannot continue to lose more of our land to the seasons. The OPW needs to be more proactive in terms of working with the local authorities. It needs to push the local authorities further and to work shoulder-to-shoulder with them. The OPW has provided funding but it needs to take a more active role in the delivery of these projects.

Deputy Cowen mentioned the draft programme for Government and said that it is ambitious. I am not here to take a pop at any draft programme. It is a draft and it has not been agreed yet but the reference in it to progressing a national policy on coastal erosion and flooding having regard to climate change needs to be bolstered and strengthened. Communities throughout the country need to see stronger commitments in regard to coastal erosion.

In March of this year a memo was brought to Cabinet in regard to a high level interdepartmental group on the management of coastal change, which is jointly chaired by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the OPW. The work of the group was initially to scope out over a six month period an approach to the development of a integrated whole-of-government coastal strategy. What is the status of that work?

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