Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

I am raising again the Blackpool flood relief scheme. We had three major floods there in 2010, 2012 and 2013. A decision was taken that a flood relief scheme would be put in place to make sure that the buildings in the area would not be adversely affected by a future increase in rainfall. Some 293 properties were previously adversely affected - 206 of them residential and 87 commercial. The announcement was made in 2018 that the scheme would proceed. It went from the OPW to the Department of public expenditure. A decision was taken that the scheme would go ahead in March 2021. There was a judicial review and four years later nothing has been completed. Between 2022 and 2024 an environmental study was produced by the OPW, which went to the Department of public expenditure. Unfortunately, when action was eventually taken on the report, the report was out of date and we were back to the drawing board with a need to do a new report. My understanding is that a new report has been obtained by the OPW, which it has forwarded to the Department of public expenditure. I do not want to have a repeat of what happened between 2022 and 2024 when a report was left on someone's desk with no action being taken.

It is 15 years since the first major flooding and nothing has been done. Where are we with regard to pressing ahead with the flood relief programme for Blackpool? It is an old part of the city where there are huge problems with properties in that banks will not make finance available to purchasers because they are unable to get insurance to protect against flooding. One property owner who has run a business in the Blackpool area for more than 40 years wants to retire. He has put the property up for sale on a number of occasions. On two separate occasions a purchaser had signed contracts and then they run into difficulties getting finance to proceed with the purchase. As a result, the sale of the property collapsed. It appears that anyone who wants to buy a property in Blackpool must be a cash purchaser because the banks will not lend money to people who want to buy and improve the area. This is an old part of the city, which is becoming derelict as a result of the scheme not being put in place. Could the Minister of State outline the timescale for the Department to sign off on the scheme for Blackpool, the time it will take to carry out the public consultation, if that is required and the time required prior to inviting tenders so that these works can proceed? It is one of the longest awaited schemes by the OPW and the Department of public expenditure and I want to see progress on it in 2025.

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