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

First, I welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Office of Public Works. In the first instance, I am delighted to be reappointed as Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works for another while.

The climate change we witness in the communities we must visit year in, year out in this country is not in any way political. It does not discriminate on the basis of where these people live, the background they have or the way they vote. It is having a huge impact all over Ireland. If anybody thinks it is not, they should walk in my shoes for a fortnight or three weeks. They should visit places such as Clifden, Bridgetown in County Wexford, Enniscorthy and Crossmolina, a town that has been waiting for so long. There is a constant threat and fear hanging over people with regard to what the weather forecast might bring in the next 24 to 48 hours. This is one side of the equation.

The other side of the equation in the immediate term is the issue of how our coastline communities continue to be threatened by rising sea levels. I say continually that we could reduce all of our emissions in the State to zero, which will never happen, and the water levels around us would continue to rise. We cannot have this discussion in a vacuum. We need to speak about adaptation and mitigation. We need to speak about resilience and responsiveness. Before Christmas I visited the city of Liège in Belgium. It was devastated by what can only be described as a climate change event a number of years ago. The statistics from it are terrible. Thirty-nine people died and 100,000 people were directly impacted. There were 11,000 vehicles washed away, 15,000 private dwelling houses were impacted and public buildings were obliterated. The cost to the Government of Wallonia, which is a small state in Belgium, was approximately €6 billion. The question is not whether the same thing can happen in Ireland but when it will happen.

We have to address in a very serious way, under a number of legislative headings, planning, resilience and the capacity to respond. The speed at which the OPW as an organisation is allowed to respond is far too slow. Everybody accepts this. When a planning Bill comes before the Dáil in the not too distant future I implore Deputies on all sides of the House to think not of the political implications of what their votes will do when they cast them but about people in Crossmolina, Bantry, Cork, this city of Dublin and communities all over the country that are waiting for the next amount of sewerage, filth, dirt and excrement to pour through their front doors. We in the Office of Public Works implore the Oireachtas and our colleagues in the European institutions to deal with this issue quickly. What is happening around us is not just about emissions. It is also about adaptation and mitigation. If we do not deal with it in the not too distant future, we will have an event such as that which occurred in Wallonia in our country and lives will be lost.

People speak about climate migration. Climate migration has started in Ireland. As I speak, houses are being knocked in County Roscommon because of an intractable situation caused by climate change and the rise of a turlough. People have to leave their homes. Collectively, everybody in the House has responsibility in this regard. It is not about the Government and the Opposition. Everybody has to stand in front of the mirror and ask themselves whether it is appropriate in 2023 that people in Roscommon are leaving their homes because of a planning system that will not allow their properties to be protected. I implore the House, on behalf of those who work for the Office of Public Works and the outdoor staff of local authorities, to deal with this issue.

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