Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, to the House. Deputy Calleary, you are going to discuss an issue that is close to my heart, that is, the need to address river cleaning and drainage in advance of winter storms. You have four minutes.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for giving us the go-ahead to raise this matter this evening. I want to join everyone in recent days who has paid tribute to Met Éireann and the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre as well as our local and national media and everyone who was involved in preparing us for the response to Storm Ophelia on Monday.

I extend my sympathies to the families of the three people who, unfortunately, lost their lives during that event. I believe those losses would have been considerably greater were it not for the response, communications and absolute commitment. The staff of Met Éireann deserve particular acknowledgement for their work. We think of all the crews out this afternoon throughout the country repairing the damage done, including crews from ESB, Irish Water and local authority crews etc.

However, we are now on the cusp of a weekend of two significant rain events. We have a status yellow warning in place for Munster, Dublin and a large number of counties around Dublin. Now, we have a status yellow weather advisory in place for the weekend for the whole island. I am concerned that river levels throughout the country are far higher than they would normally be at this time of year because of the wet summer and the events of recent weeks. While Storm Ophelia was not necessarily a rain-led event, water levels did rise considerably during Monday. There is now nowhere for any excess water to go. This will result in significant and severe flooding either this weekend or at some stage during the course of the winter. What plans are in place to deal with that?

It continues to be a source of enormous frustration in my area and places like Crossmolina that the OPW will not clean riverbeds and will not do basic maintenance on parts of the River Deel in a manner that was done years ago before we had the technology available now. That was done regularly and ensured a water flow.

The basics of ensuring the drains are cleaned of leaves need to be dealt with, especially after Monday's tree falls and the number of leaves that fell on Monday. Have local authorities in all areas affected by weather advisories ensured that drains were kept clear? It seems that many blockages on roads come from small things not being done properly. Particularly in a week where our local authorities are stretched, we want to make sure that work gets done, not just tomorrow but every day in advance of what is going to be a difficult winter with regard to weather, but hopefully not with regard to flooding.

The Minister of State is one of the planners for flood defences in the Department. I have raised Crossmolina with him. We are still waiting for information from the OPW about the plans there and similarly for Ballina. All over the country, communities will be afraid tonight and tomorrow of what is to come this weekend. Communities and groups such as the Crossmolina Flood Group are out, as we speak, putting sandbags down, working with Mayo County Council and the OPW staff on the ground trying to put defences in place already ahead of both tomorrow and Saturday. They need to know that they have the support of the Government and that the practical measures that will make their job much easier will be done in advance of the weekend and on an ongoing basis throughout the winter to come.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin "Boxer" Moran. I concur with the expressions of sympathy to the families of those who suffered bereavement and the three fatalities in Waterford, Tipperary and Louth, and also commend the work of the State, local authorities and Office of Public Works. I also acknowledge the work of Met Éireann on ex-Hurricane Ophelia.

Maintenance of rivers and other watercourses can have a positive role to play in preventing the deterioration of channel conveyance capacity. The Office of Public Works carries out a programme of arterial drainage maintenance to a total of 11,500 km of river channel and approximately 730 km of embankments nationally. These maintenance works relate to arterial drainage schemes completed by the OPW under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 and 1995. The OPW has a statutory duty to maintain the completed schemes in proper repair and effective condition. The annual maintenance programme typically involves some clearance of vegetation and removal of silt build-up on an average five-year cycle. Each year, work is carried out to approximately 2,000 km of channel and approximately 200 structures around the country. Maintenance of all drainage schemes carried out under earlier Acts, known as drainage districts, is the responsibility of the relevant local authority.

However, it is important to understand that maintenance on its own will not protect towns and would have had no beneficial effect on extreme flood events as experienced recently in Donegal. Maintenance is only one aspect of Ireland's approach to dealing with flooding. It is important to place on the record of this House the Government's plans and preparations to address flood risk. The Government investment in flood relief capital works since 1995 is yielding significant benefits and is already protecting 14,000 properties. The cumulative value of the benefits from major and minor schemes is estimated to be in the region of €1.5 billion. This investment includes the 39 major flood defence schemes already completed, providing protection to 8,000 properties as demonstrated during the floods of the winter of 2015 and 2016. There are ten new major flood defence schemes under construction with further schemes at design and planning stages. When completed, this programme will provide protection for an additional 12,000 properties.

Since 2009, over 600 projects protecting 6,000 properties from localised flooding have been approved for funding under the Office of Public Works' minor works scheme. The OPW will continue to provide important funding to local authorities to deal with localised flooding issues. The current priorities of the OPW are to publish and implement flood risk management plans to address significant flood risk for 300 communities throughout Ireland and to deliver the capital investment programme of major flood defences that will protect thousands of properties during severe flood events. The Government's ongoing commitment to tackling flooding is witnessed from the €430 million six-year programme of capital investment in flood defence measures as part of the Government's overall capital investment plan for 2016 to 2021. During this time, the annual allocation for flood defence schemes will more than double to €100 million to deliver the existing and proposed projects. This significant allocation for flood risk management was confirmed in the mid-term review of the capital plan published recently by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The flood risk management plans also emphasise the importance of non-structural measures and support the whole of Government approach adopted to tackle flood risk management.

The OPW chairs the interdepartmental flood policy co-ordination group and the Shannon flood risk State agency co-ordination working group. Progress is being made on a broad range of policies and measures. For example, planning guidelines have prevented building on flood zones since 2009. Work to develop a national flood forecasting and warning service is progressing and some flood alert systems are in place in the interim. The OPW and Mayo County Council are progressing an individual property protection pilot project in Crossmolina. This initiative will provide protection to up to 76 properties and, together with another pilot project in Kilkenny, will inform any future feasible assistance by Government to homeowners for individual home flood mitigation. State agencies continually monitor and, where possible, control river levels within their areas of responsibility, including on the Shannon. The Shannon working group is trialling the lowering of levels in Lough Allen to complement existing water level protocols in place for Lough Ree.

The OPW and Geological Survey of Ireland are collaborating to assess the areas potentially at risk from turlough flooding, both now and into the future, and to determine if potentially viable measures exist to manage this risk, where it is significant. A once-off targeted homeowners voluntary relocation scheme has been introduced for those primary residential properties that flooded from 4 December 2015 to 13 January 2016. The national Be Winter Ready campaign in the winter of 2016 and 2017 focused on creating greater awareness for the public to plan for a flood event in their homes and businesses.

While the OPW has a lead co-ordination role in flood risk management, local authorities are designated as the lead agencies for responding to severe weather events, including flooding. Emergency planning at both a national and local level is reviewed to ensure a rapid and effective response for any future events.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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That response was given to me three or four weeks ago. I am asking the Minister of State about the current situation, in the context of what is ahead over the next few weeks, months and indeed days and the weather advisories being given overnight. I welcome the individual property protection pilot project in Crossmolina which involves the installation of flood gates in homes in the town. It still has to be completed. A number of homes still have to get that protection. Will the Minister of State come back to me and let me know when it is done? It has been a very good investment and I welcome it. The homeowners voluntary relocation scheme does not apply if a flood relief plan is in place in an area that is affected, even if there is not a timeline on the delivery of that flood plan. Homeowners who were affected by the flooding events from December 2015 to January 2016 have been told that they are not entitled to apply for it because a flood plan may be in place. I ask the Minister of State to review that, particularly in cases of extreme hardship where there have been multiple cases of flooding.

I emphasise my concern for the days, weeks and months ahead. Given the unprecedented rain levels this summer, acknowledged by Met Éireann as being particularly high, and the events of the last few days, our water tables are no longer able to cope with any more heavy bursts of rain. What plans do the Government, local authorities and OPW have to deal with that now rather than at some stage in the future when the capital plan funding comes? Will the basics of river maintenance, drain clearage and things that cause floods that do not need to happen be dealt with?

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There are many issues there that I will take back to the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, with regard to the issues in Crossmolina. I will ask for further updates on that and also on Deputy Calleary's query on the review of the home relocation scheme. I will also ask about local authorities and the work that they have done on what could appear as rather simple work in removing leaves and ensuring that gullies are fully cleared before the most recent storm. There is clearly ongoing assessment and preparations for storms within local authorities and the lead Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. The Deputy mentioned the urgent need for river-cleaning in the title. As Minister of State with responsibility for inland fisheries, I can say that Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, is the statutory authority tasked with responsibilities for the conservation, protection and development of inland fishery resources and recreational sea angling. I know the accusation is continuously made that the IFI is somehow blocking work.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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It is not blocking work.

I often hear that IFI is in some way blocking cleaning. What I would say is that Inland Fisheries Ireland writes every year to every local authority reminding them of their responsibilities in relation to works on rivers. In general, that work should be carried out in the period 1 July to 30 September. Clearly, we are past that date now.

It is important that local authorities, where they need to carry out emergency works, can apply under legislation. Under the Local Authorities (Works) Act 1949, they notify the IFI and it can turn around requests quite quickly, within less than a week in emergency situations where emergency works have to be carried out. It is important, because I hear that quite often, that IFI has a role. IFI does not stop, and generally tries to assist and advise, local authorities from undertaking river drainage. Clearly, there are other bodies, whether it be OPW or the National Parks and Wildlife Service, that also can have a say, but in regard to IFI's work, it tries to be helpful and assist local authorities in relation to their rivers.

I will ask the Minister of State to revert to the Deputy in relation to the issues that he has raised.