Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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63. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the extent to which Ireland continues to make progress towards meeting climate change issues with particular reference to flooding prevention, land drainage or management and any other issues of potential positive impact in meeting the various climate challenges in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21542/24]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question seeks to ascertain the extent to which measures to meet climate challenges are successful, and if there is available to the public some scientific evidence to indicate that their efforts are being rewarded and that, if continued, their efforts will be of benefit.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The statutory 2018 national adaptation framework, NAF, sets out Ireland's climate adaptation policy. Following my Department's review of the framework I approved the development of a new NAF, and the draft was completed in December 2023. It incorporates key sectoral and stakeholder input, including from the Climate Change Advisory Council. A statutory public consultation was undertaken earlier this year. The NAF will be submitted to Government for approval shortly, with publication anticipated in the second quarter of 2024. The new NAF integrates national and international policy developments since 2018, and includes work progressed at local authority level, sectoral adaptation plans and climate research. It outlines a whole-of-government and society approach to climate adaptation in Ireland. By taking a sectoral approach through relevant Departments, it aims to improve the enabling environment for mainstreaming adaptation action through key sectors and local government, along with civil society, the private sector and the research community. According to the Climate Change Advisory Council's 2023 climate change adaptation scorecard report, the agriculture, forestry and seafood sector was rated as moderate overall, with good progress observed in mainstreaming adaptation into new policies, planning and financing frameworks. The flood risk management sector was rated as good overall, with the OPW found to have strong internal co-ordination structures in place to co-ordinate the planning, implementation and monitoring of its SAP. Following Government approval of the NAF, key sectors including flood risk management and agriculture will develop new SAPs to address the negative impacts of climate change and to benefit from potential positive impacts.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am also thinking that in order to succeed in any such situation there needs to be evidence available to support the concept. We have, for example, for want of a better word, flashpoints around the country where severe flooding takes place and has taken place again and again. We call it a hundred year flood or whatever it is. The fact is that there is a means to stop it. We have the means to stop it. A drainage system, if operated, will curtail the kind of flash floods we have in the centres of towns and villages and so on. To what extent can we deal with that more quickly than we have done in the past? The same floods appear again and again, and the same floods threaten houses again and again, year after year.

Why should that be? Is it not possible with today's technology to be able to ensure the drainage takes place to be able to alleviate the potential for flooding?

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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We spent most of our time talking about the climate action plan, the ways to reduce emissions and prevent the worst effects of climate change from happening, and the adaptation plans are what is done when it does happen, and when flooding occurs, how we build the infrastructure to prevent it from happening.

There are many questions in this House on flooding. They are answered by the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW. It is the OPW which has responsibility for making one of these sectoral adaptation plans and it is its job to make sure it is incorporating all the science and research to make sure it can prevent floods from happening in blackspots. From listening to the replies from the OPW, there seems to be a very long list of places in the country that are affected by flooding. It seems the once in a hundred year events that are marked on the flood risk maps happen much more frequently than that. We can look back at the experience in Midleton and see how important it is that we find a way to prevent these things from happening.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for that reply. Again, I am a bit puzzled that we have the incidents repeating and we have the technology to alleviate the problem. While we can say in the long term that we can reduce emissions, which is beneficial to the environment, at the same time we have a situation where parts of the island are being rewetted. I would think most people would agree that over the past 12 months, and over the past six months especially, this island has been rewetted sufficiently to worry some people. I appreciate the work that is being done. However, the EPA published a report recently that said we are doing very well, that praised the country and the Minister for their efforts, but that said more needs to be done. Well then, let us do it. Let us do the job that has to be done to alleviate the flooding and to stop it - the 100-year flooding and the 50-year flooding and the 200-year flooding or whatever it is – because that is achievable in the short term.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I agree with everything the Deputy is saying but it is very important these questions are put not just to the Minister for the environment, Deputy Ryan. He is not alone in being responsible for dealing with all of these problems. That is why there are sectoral plans that are allocated to each of the relevant Ministers. For example, there is an agriculture, forestry and seafood plan for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. There is one for biodiversity which is with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Then, as I said, flood risk comes under the OPW. The effects on health come under the Department of Health and effects on transport come under the Minister for Transport, who is also the Minister for the environment. It is important we do not allocate all the environmental problems in the country to the Minister for the environment and that we have a whole-of-government solution. That is why there are allocated Ministers in each of these sections. I encourage the Deputy to put the question to those relevant Ministers to see what they are doing to satisfy and complete their sectoral adaptation plans to make sure they are taking responsibility for their share of the problem.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Minister of State I have done so.