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

I thank the Minister of State for his commitment to this and for visiting the area on more than one occasion and for spending quite a bit of time there. I am sure he will join me in my frustration at the lack of progress. It is not his fault at all. With respect to Mogeely, the council is going to appoint a number of consulting engineers in the coming weeks. It has been almost nine months since we had the flood. Will the Minister of State be a bit more specific as to when this is going to happen? Are we talking about months more? I have records of floods in Midleton going back to 1993. Floods occurred in 1993, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2013. There were major floods in 2015 and 2016 and another following Storm Babet in 2023. According to the Minister of State's response, Cork County Council and the OPW appointed engineers and environmental consultants in 2017. That is seven years ago and we still do not know when an application for planning permission is going to be lodged. When does he expect an application for the major scheme in Midleton to be lodged? Is there any way that we can do something for Mogeely, Castlemartyr, Rathcormac and Killeagh in the meantime? Given the very substantial time that has passed, are we now talking about senior officials being sacked or moved on because they are not doing their jobs? That is where I am at this stage.

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