Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for what he is telling me. I thank the Government for the schemes it is providing. Presumably, all of the businesses and homes in Galway that have been affected will be able to avail of those schemes, including Clarinbridge, Oranmore, Galway city, Claddagh, Salthill and Long Walk. I should be talking to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. We should be looking at flood defences because in the meantime there will be interim protection measures and once-off payments will have to continue for longer because flood defence mechanisms have not been provided.

Regarding Coirib go Cósta, over a year has passed since the last update was posted on the website. Almost two and a half years have passed since the first and only public consultation took place. The revised programme was expected in the first quarter of 2023. Almost eight months have passed since then and we still have no date.

We are told that the consultants were appointed more than three years ago in 2020. This is bordering on pathetic, given the enormity of the challenges we are facing in providing flood defences in Galway. Departments are playing games with one another. I have the greatest of respect for the departmental staff, who work extremely hard, but something is wrong somewhere with management. There is a detachment. All day today, games were being played about who was responsible for answering this basic question while the Minister of State was put in a position to tell me something that I could easily have read otherwise and that was repeated a number of times on Leaders' Questions, the Order of Business and so on. Eleven years on from when this process started and after serious flooding on Sunday and Monday and in 2018, I still have no idea and we are no wiser or no more informed about essential flood defences in Galway.

I thank the Chair for bearing with me.

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