David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for that. I will again emphasise the fact that sea erosion and so on does not wait for studies. We are great in this country for having a study, but I do not think a study is needed. If you walk the actual beach, you can see what is needed; it needs protection. It needs an embankment to be put in place. We spend much time appointing consultants at huge expense to carry out studies when we know what the answer is before they start. Anyway, these studies should not take that long to complete. What do we tell the householders if their houses are flooded from the sea? The Minister of State might also reflect on the longer term issue of sea level rise, which also has an impact on both cases I mentioned this morning.

I welcome and look forward to receiving communication from his office with respect to what happens to the former Land Commission banks. The Land Commission was a State agency. It had responsibility for river embankments. It is now no longer in existence. There is no money left to do the repair work that it did. I am told it is up to the landowners to do it. I do not think that is fair. I ask the Minister of State and Government to look at this again. Maybe the State should have a role in this.

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