Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)

I appreciate the Minister of State's response and commitment to this. Obviously, the issue is that this problem is continuing to get worse and my constituents who are speaking to me do not feel that enough is being done to maintain the river to address those pinch points to get water levels under control. I know that the Minister of State is meeting with the Save our Shannon Organisation, which represents local people affected by this, in the coming days or weeks. These people know the river better than anyone, having lived and worked alongside it for years. They have an important stake and voice in this and, crucially, they want to be at the table where decisions are being made. They need to be included in the Shannon flood risk agency co-ordination group, which is chaired by the Minister of State. They should not be excluded from this group when they are the ones most affected by this flooding. Will this be facilitated? Can the Save our Shannon Organisation be included in that group?

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