Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)

I am sharing time with my colleague, Deputy Ahern. We will divide our time into seven and three minutes.

I will focus my comments principally on the Drogheda and Baltray flood relief scheme, which was announced in 2021. Four years later, the latest newsletter proclaims it is still at stage 1 of five stages. The Minister of State set out quite clearly that, on average, the process involved five separate stages. It appears that this particular process is still at stage 1, which is scheme development and preliminary design. The Minister of State said that, on average, it took 48 months to carry out.

We always use examples from our own constituencies to illustrate wider points on national policy questions and concerns about delivery, and I am doing that in this case. Louth County Council, the Office of Public Works and RPS Consulting Engineers Limited are working on the project and I congratulate them on their communications initiative regarding it. They provide regular newsletters on a dedicated website informing the public of progress. However, the trouble is that progress and where we are at the moment. The latest newsletter was published in April and reported that the project was still at stage 1, which has created some frustration. The newsletter went on to explain that stage 1 involved the identification and development of a preferred scheme. The steering group driving the project continues to collect data, we are told, to ensure that accurate and up-to-date information is used to inform the development of the project. I am not an expert on flood relief programmes, but I imagine that some of the delays and concerns have to do with the fact that we are dealing with a special area of conservation on the Boyne Estuary, a very important habitat for protected species, some of which spend their summers here, such as little terns. The little terns conservation project protects some very important birds there. The steering group continues to collect data, but there are a bewildering number of surveys taking place, from aquatic ecology walk-over surveys to geophysical surveys and overwintering bird surveys. Notwithstanding what I said, that is of course important.

At the same time, RPS is modelling to provide an accurate representation of the flooding mechanisms within the study area and all of this is happening before we even get to a cost-benefit analysis of the project.

The depressing news for locals anxious that the project progress and be completed is that the current projected date for the scheme to be fully operational is 2033. That is probably optimistic, given the fact that we are only at stage 1 at this point and we know that can take 48 months. Why does it take so long to get through this particular part of the process? In the case of the overall project, it is probably a 12-year timeframe at a minimum.

Deputy Farrell mentioned earlier, and we both raised with the Minister for public expenditure in Priority Questions today, the initiative he was taking in the development of the infrastructure division and the task force in his Department, recognising as he said in recent days that the infrastructure delivery system was in a state of paralysis and simply not delivering. Will the Minister of State, in his closing remarks, intimate to colleagues in the Chamber what the position is regarding OPW's relationship with that new division in the Department and with the task force? Will flood relief programmes and the expedited flood relief programmes form a part of that?

The Minister of State will be aware that there are similar schemes under way in Dundalk, Blackrock south and Ardee in county Louth, which have had a year's head start on the Baltray and Drogheda project, but they too appear to be progressing at the same rather sluggish pace. He will be familiar with some of the issues residents on the Cooley Peninsula in Louth have experienced over the past few years with serious flood events. I note in the Minister of State's remarks - he went on to clarify them somewhat in the context of the climate challenge we are facing - that many of the projects we are dealing with now and the OPW is rolling out are designed to address what might be termed one-in-100 year events. Climate change is a reality and these are no longer one-in-100-year events. We need to be prepared for that and have our adaptation and mitigation initiatives ready. There is work under way on the Cooley Peninsula and Louth County Council has engaged a geospatial contractor to carry out topographical area surveys as part of the Carlingford and Greenore flood relief scheme. Data gathering will play a crucial role in flood modelling and could help shape the future of flood protection measures for the area. It is good, of course, to see this kind of modern technology being utilised in the development of these projects.

I wish to raise with the Minister of State the issue around financial support for businesses and communities when these flood events take place. I recall engaging with the then Minister for enterprise, Deputy Coveney, back in 2023 regarding a flooding event on the Cooley Peninsula that adversely affected villages like Carlingford and elsewhere. I recall being rather concerned that, when events like this occurred, a memorandum was required for every event to be brought to Government to provide a discrete support scheme for businesses affected by flooding. This is not strictly speaking within Deputy Moran's remit as Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, but he will engage with the Minister for enterprise on such matters. Often, businesses find it challenging to obtain the insurance cover they need. Will the Minister of State update the House, if he has the information available, on whether that scheme, as I have requested for many years, will be put on a statutory footing? These are no longer one-in-100-year events. Unfortunately, they are problems associated with the reality of climate change, an issue that is very much here now. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could address some of those questions in his concluding remarks.

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