Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

My fear is that there is a long process. We are talking about another consultation and a review, which will feed into sectoral plans, and I do not know when that will happen. By the time we get around to embedding nature-based solution thinking into our policies, it will be too late. We will have already installed a new generation of infrastructure that might not do what we need it to do.

I agree with the Minister on local authorities, but the Government is the primary source of governance in the country. If local authorities are not doing what it expects them to do or what they need to do, it is for the Government to ensure that they do.

I am unsure of whether the Minister knows about this, but I recently became aware of local authorities that were using the Part 8 system to build social housing on flood plains. They are putting flood mitigation measures in place, but I am concerned about whether those are sufficient. Since it is going through the Part 8 process, there is no or very limited consultation. I would like the Minister to raise this matter with his counterparts in government.

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