Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for his contribution. In fairness to Government and everyone else, including Roscommon County Council, there was a view at the end of 2021 that a solution had been identified. Funding was provided and a huge amount of work went into getting to that point, including technical work between the local authority, the OPW, the funding application and the funding provided by Government. Then we hit, let us call it, a roadblock, which was a finding in our courts that sent everybody back to the drawing board.

I take the point the Deputy is making in terms of the urgency and his fear and, presumably and more particularly, that of his constituents that this could go on and on, when it will be that the steering group will actually come up with a viable solution and how quickly we can get on with it. I know it is meeting again this week.

I will undertake to have the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, refer to the Deputy directly on that meeting, the next steps and on some of the issues asked about by the Deputy. He asked if there was an issue of law and a need for legislative change. I will take that question away as well. I take the point on urgency because we have seen really good results in areas in which we have put flood reliefs. I was a Minister with responsibility for the OPW once and I remember Bandon and Skibbereen flooding. There has been real progress made where flood relief schemes have been put in place and I can only imagine this adds to the frustration in communities still waiting today. We will come back to the Deputy on this directly.

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