Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I have proposed this Topical Issue four times in the past three weeks. We have been trying to get the Minister of State's attention and to talk to him, but he has not acknowledged the Topical Issue or turned up to the Dáil to talk to us until today. I welcome his presence. At least he has attended today to listen to us.

Before I start, I congratulate the Minister of State on his new portfolio and wish him and his family well.

I will get down to business. People around Ireland, including Limerick, are being flooded in places that are not flood plains because of maintenance issues. There has been no maintenance because workers are only being taken on for a season. Recently, I was in Kilmallock, where my constituency office is. We had a flooding issue. The Minister of State was in Cork when it happened because he had to go to Skibbereen. There was a red weather warning and a culvert could not be opened, which meant that Main Street in Skibbereen got flooded. It was another maintenance issue that could have been avoided, but people's premises got flooded.

In Kilmallock, houses were flooded that are not on a flood plain. Is the Office of Public Works, OPW, responsible in this instance or is it a matter for the local authority? The problem is that no maintenance is being done. A couple of days after that flooding incident, we had another high wave and heavy rain and the locations that were already flooded - as I said, they are located in non-flood areas - were flooded again because the gullies and drains had not been cleaned. I have been involved in construction all my life and I grew up on a farm. I know about construction and I know about waterways. If things are not maintained, there will be problems.

Diggers were sent into the Kilmallock area by the OPW but there was only one driver. A 4-tonne digger was dropped on the Charleville Road and a small bit of maintenance was done on a bridge there. We found out later from Cian Ó Donaill that this bridge was not properly constructed in the first place. It was shown as an arch bridge on his map but when he went there, he found two 3 ft 6 in. pipes. This bridge was constructed in 1984 and it has never been maintained other than by the people who live adjacent to it to prevent their houses from being flooded.

The River Loobagh in Kilmallock has not been dredged in 15 years. A house located on the bridge off Orr Street in Kilmallock was flooded twice within a week. The Government sent Derek Higgins down to look at it and he told us there were no problems with the bridge and no problem with the eyebar. Yet when we sent him photographs of it, it became a problem and, in fact, our biggest problem. I am hoping that the Minister of State, as a Limerick man, can resolve these issues. I am not making this personal. My job is to point out the issues to the Minister of State and it is his job to make sure they are addressed. He must take control and ensure the OPW takes on the staff that are needed. Maintenance must be carried out all year round. The Minister of State is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of 11,000 km of waterway.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I have been a Minister of State for nearly five years and I have never refused to come into the House to be held accountable on any issue. Topical Issue matters are selected by the Ceann Comhairle, not by me. Any Member who wishes to come to me with a particular concern is welcome to do so. Just before Deputy O'Donoghue spoke, another Deputy came over to me to ask me something. I am surprised that Deputy O'Donoghue would set about making his contribution in the way he did.

I thank him for raising this important matter. At this time of the year, as we approach the winter season, it is opportune that we consider our preparedness as a country to respond to severe weather events such as flooding. I am acutely aware of the impact the recent flooding has had on individual households and communities throughout the State. Since taking up my current position, I have visited a number of areas affected by the recent storms, including Kenmare, the Kilmallock area, Clifden, Dunmanway, Skibbereen, Bantry, Bandon and Rosscarbery. I thank the OPW staff, the staff of the local authorities, including the one in the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's county, the fire services staff and others who assisted in this work.

The Government's framework for major emergency management underpins the co-ordination of responses to all emergencies in Ireland. Through that framework, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government is the lead Department with national responsibility for co-ordinating the response to severe weather emergencies, including flooding. Local authorities are designated as the lead agency for response to flooding events within their administrative areas, not the OPW, and for ensuring effective arrangements are put in place to receive and respond to public service weather warnings issued by Met Éireann. 

I recognise the proactive planning of the local authorities, in this case, Limerick City and County Council, in putting in place temporary flood defences and putting response staff on standby in preparation for recent weather events. Its planning and rapid response to flood events helped to mitigate the damage and devastation that was caused. Each local area has its own individual plan in the event of flooding. An Garda Síochána, Civil Defence Ireland and the HSE are also involved and I thank them for their contribution.

In regard to arterial drainage maintenance, the OPW carries out a programme of maintenance on a total of 11,500 km of river channel and approximately 730 km of embankments. These maintenance works relate to arterial drainage schemes completed by the OPW under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 and 1995. The purpose of the schemes is to mitigate flooding for agricultural use.

The annual national maintenance programme typically involves some clearance of vegetation and removal of silt build-up. Completed on an average five-yearly cycle, work is carried out on approximately 2,000 km of channel each year.  Maintenance is continuously done on a cyclical basis under the Maigue catchment drainage scheme, including on channels in and around Kilmallock and Ballylanders. In Kilmallock, works were undertaken on the main channel to clear debris from bridges as recently as June 2020. There have also been rock-armouring works undertaken downstream of the town to address bank erosion. In Bresheen, the channel was maintained along its full length in the period from June to August 2019.  I acknowledge the work done by the OPW in this regard.

In the past two months, particularly intense rainfall events have caused serious flooding in the area surrounding Kilmallock and elsewhere. In some of these places, we have seen unprecedented river levels and properties being flooded that were never previously flooded. The flow recorded on the River Loobagh was a record event since records began in 1985. The OPW is now engaged with Limerick City and County Council to explore what works might be feasible under the minor works scheme to mitigate the risk in these areas.  The council has been supported through funding from the OPW under the minor flood mitigation and coastal protection works scheme. Funding of more than €2 million has been approved for 39 local-scale flood protection projects, providing local flooding solutions to 440 properties across Limerick since the scheme began in 2009.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I watched the works being done in Kilmallock and I offer my thanks to the fire service staff there and in all the other areas where there was flooding. A 4-tonne digger was dropped off Orr street, a driver operated it for five hours and then left the machine there for one week. A 4-tonne digger was also left on the Charleville Road for one week. There is only one driver and he is being pushed and pulled all over the place. We need year-round staff to do this work.

In Abbeyfeale, a homeowner came out the back door one morning and found that the yard was gone to within 7 ft of his house. The fisheries board would not allow a small bank of earth in the middle of a river that is 35 m wide to be moved so that a machine could be put in to save this person's house. The Minister of State called to that location along with local councillors, so he knows what I am talking about. The fisheries board would not allow what was needed to be done. Derek Higgins told us he cannot do any more work in Kilmallock because the fisheries board will not allow him to do it. The Minister of State saw for himself the flooding that took place in Newcastle West in 2008.

We need full-time, year-round staff to deal with these issues. We do not need a machine to be dropped here, there and everywhere and one driver being told to go to one place for five hours and somewhere else for another five hours. I know the Minister of State is a good person and he will try to deal with these issues. He needs to get a handle on the OPW and its staffing levels. It is not just the staffing levels at the OPW that need to be increased but also in the local authorities. Their streams are attached to the OPW streams, as we can see in all the maps. There is no point in having machines with one driver operating them. There must be adequate staffing and maintenance all year round.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I remind the Deputy that within a short time of the flooding in Newcastle West in 2008, a major flood relief scheme was completed there by the OPW. Similar schemes were completed in Cappamore and Dromcolliher. Major works are ongoing in Limerick city to protect King's Island and work has been completed in Coonagh. Immediately after I visited Kilmallock, the OPW completed a tree and vegetation control there and more work is ongoing in that regard. Work is also going on at Bresheen South where the channel meets the River Loobagh. The Deputy will know that silt and vegetation works have been done on the R512 at Gurteen, which is the on road to Ardpatrick. Silt removal works have also taken place in Kilmallock.

These works have been done in consultation with Inland Fisheries Ireland. Any delays are a source of frustration to me and to the OPW but we have to go through a planning process. The Deputy was a member of Limerick County Council for a period of time and he will know that OPW personnel cannot just arrive at a river and do whatever they like. There must be a planning process. The Deputy will know from his own occupation as a builder that one has to go through a process to do anything. In regard to specific personnel within the OPW, I would not like to respond to what individuals outside the House did or did not say.

It is important to point out that in other parts of County Limerick, such as Castleconnell and Athea, consultants have been appointed under the CFRAM report. Limerick city and environs is also going forward, again under a CFRAM report, which is a major flood risk assessment being carried out with more than €1 billion committed by the Government.

For the remainder of the schemes in Limerick that were announced in 2018, including Rathkeale, Foynes, Askeaton, Adare and Newcastlewest, work is progressing to develop each of these within the lifetime of the national development plan. One area the Deputy did not refer to, and maybe he was not aware of it, was the massive flood alleviation works in Foynes, which the Office of Public Works completed to the satisfaction of everybody in Foynes, during the period of the last Dáil. Not everything the OPW does is a bad job.