Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

The first time I met the Minister of State was in County Louth when I was a county councillor. Our meeting was about flood relief schemes but unfortunately, on some level, it is the big plans that we still need to see delivered. It goes without saying that a significant amount of County Louth, and of Dundalk where I live, is below sea level. This goes back to land reclamation projects completed a few hundred years ago following visits that were made to Holland by Lord Loden, I believe. The fact is that there are plans in place for several schemes, including the Dundalk, Blackrock South scheme which aims to protect 1,880 properties. I am not going to get into the ins and outs of the answer the Minister of State gave me to a parliamentary question but the design options are expected to be presented to the public in quarter 3 of 2025. A preferred option is expected by the middle of 2026, with a planning application expected to be submitted in quarter 2 of 2027. We will be still be waiting a considerable amount of time for that. The Drogheda and Baltray scheme is further behind than that, while the Ardee flood relief scheme, which aims to protect 30 properties, is currently under review by the OPW. We would need to see some of this work happening to a greater degree. Regarding the Carlingford and Greenore scheme, the council has made an application to the OPW for funding for any viable options that provide interim mitigation measures that may improve the conveyance characteristics of the Carlingford drainage system. We are all aware of the big flooding event that happened in 2023 in the Cooley peninsula and Carlingford. Some of the resources that were available around CFRAM have also looked at what can be done from a mitigation perspective in relation to that particular event and what could possibly happen in the future. Obviously, we need that to happen. On Annagassan and Termonfeckin, the OPW is finalising a review.

There are discussions on that but we need to see action.

I am always worried about timelines, particularly when we are talking about planning permission applications. As we know, planning is a long way from actually delivering. The big issue will be delivery. When I put the question I mentioned to the Minister of State earlier, I hoped there would be an option in regard to the over and back. The problem is CFRAM has done its work and the maps are drawn up. That has had an impact in terms of people getting flood insurance. Once upon a time, Louth County Council would provide information such as that there had been no flooding in a particular area. That option is not open at the moment. There must be engagement between the Minister of State and other Departments to deliver that. We also need to be able to deliver the funding to deal with emergency weather events.

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