Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a councillor at the time, I and others knew that a one in 100-year event was being looked at. We knew that was madness and we were not experts. In addition, we have been given so many deadlines that have been missed. I realise the complexity of the work but it is difficult to have trust when the website is not updated and reasons are not given. Councillors should be updated as a matter of course at council level and, separately, the TDs for the area.

In January 2023, I was given a date of the first quarter of 2023. I was then told it would be the end of June 2023, then the third quarter 2023 and then the end of November 2023. The Minister of State is telling me tonight it will hopefully be mid-December this year. I can see myself raising these questions with him again in the new year.

I raised this matter as a Topical Issue. That in itself was educational because my office had so much trouble getting the Minister of State’s Department to accept the question. We always table the questions to the Department but, unfortunately, we had used the word “business” in the question. We were told to submit it directly to the Office of Public Works, which we cannot do. It just illustrates that there is a disconnect somewhere.

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