Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Clonakilty scheme is completed and has been handed over to Cork County Council, while the schemes in Skibbereen and Bandon have more or less been completed as well. The true test of the pudding is in the eating, though. As someone who knows Bandon intimately, being able to say that the town did not flood during Storm Barra, and that my brother's pub did not flood, unlike in almost every previous flooding event, shows that the investment by the OPW, through Cork County Council, was a good undertaking in the context of addressing the scourge of flooding in Bandon, as well as in Skibbereen and Clonakilty. Hopefully, we will be able to get the scheme in Bantry up and running now as well. I pay tribute to the volunteers, the outside staff of Cork County Council, our own outside staff and the local communities, which have been very resilient. That has been the case not only in the west Cork towns, but in all the other towns that have also experienced the scourge of flooding. We want to get on with this process, but it will only be as good as the local representatives, who we hope will row in behind these endeavours. Obviously, we hope that it will not get bogged down in delays. We want to try to do for Bantry what we have done for Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen and the other Cork towns as well.

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