James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the post-Storm Babet issues in Midleton and the wider area of east Cork. The Taoiseach will be familiar with the damage that was done to our road infrastructure. Approximately €50 million worth of damage was done to local roads across the east Cork area. That is according to Cork County Council. Several roads remain closed, especially rural and secondary routes and quite a significant amount of infrastructure, including bridges, drains and embankments, need sufficient funding if they are to be fixed.

We saw a huge reaction from the Government in October when this happened. Many members of the Government, including the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, came to visit, but we need to get the level of resources necessary to tackle the issue. Only €14 million has been made available through a severe weather allocation during a recent round of allocations. This is despite the fact that it will cost more than €50 million to repair the damage. Will the Taoiseach bring the issue of the impact the flooding has had to the attention of the Department of Transport and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, and ask why there is a deficit of approximately €40 million in respect of what is needed. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

Unfortunately, the damage that was done is having an adverse impact, especially on some of the rural areas I represent where agricultural vehicles and heavy goods vehicles cannot access roads to get to and from some farms and other businesses. I would appreciate if this could be done. Deputy Stanton and I met the director of services in the relevant areas and the chief executive of Cork County Council to gauge their concerns. Unfortunately, I report to the House that Cork County Council has a significant issue with the lack of funding that is being provided to deal with the post-Storm Babet issues, especially around road infrastructure. I would appreciate if the Government could comment on this.

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