Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for being here. It is much appreciated. I thank him and his Department for their engagement.

I am speaking today on behalf of the residents of Castlemartyr, Mogeely, Midleton, Whitegate, Killeagh and Rathcormac to urgently implore the Government and Minister of State to initiate tranche 2 of the flood relief programme for these communities. These towns and villages have been repeatedly and severely impacted by flooding events that have devastated homes, livelihoods and essential infrastructure. In Castlemartyr and Rathcormac, in particular, flooding has become distressingly regular. Families are being displaced, local businesses suffer long-term damage or have been closed, and community morale is at an all-time low. Each new flood exacerbates the already significant financial and emotional burden on the residents.

The situation in Mogeely is even more precarious. The village has at least 32 homes constructed with timber frames, which are particularly vulnerable to water damage. These homes will not withstand another flood without severe consequences for the residents. The inhabitants live in constant fear of destruction and many now feel abandoned by the system that is supposed to protect them. The houses have roughly 56 entry points so the flood protection gates are, as a fellow said, as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. While I acknowledge the measures implemented through tranche 1, it is now imperative that tranche 2 be initiated without further delay, with Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Rathcormac and Mogeely placed high on a list.

Residents respectfully request the following engagement. They have asked me to ask for the defined scope and priorities aligned with the strategic outcomes, confirmation of ownership and resourcing across the impacted teams, the establishment of timelines, dependencies and measurable success criteria, and a commitment to reviewing the regulation on private house insurance, which is very high.

I live not too far from the main street in Midleton. I live beyond a place called Forest Hill, which gets flooded. We need an ark for the whole of County Cork, and that indicates the problem we have with insurance there.

The flood group that has been formed basically wants the Minister of State’s support. In fairness to him, he has been extremely engaging and has visited the region and spoken to residents there. I acknowledge that he said he will be back down again, but the residents are looking for points of contact. If there are any planning issues, they would like to be involved with them. This is not just to be nosey but to facilitate. They probably do the Minister of State’s job and mine at times because they are the experts on where they are living. They definitely want early input on priorities. They also want to know the Minister of State’s realistic availability to engage on this matter. He has engaged and I acknowledge he will be visiting the area. At a meeting I was at in Midleton last Friday night, the residents told me flooding is no longer an occasional national disaster but an ongoing crisis for affected communities. They are asking the Government to act before the next flood causes totally irreversible damage.

Never mind the financial stress and worry, the mental health of the affected people should be considered. They are really upset, hurt and frightened. The Minister of State knows that with mortgages so expensive in this day and age, they will be goosed if there is another flooding event in their area. The homes will not be homes anymore.

I will make a few more points in my two minutes after the Minister of State responds.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue today. I am fully aware that flooding has a significant impact on people, families, businesses and communities. I refer in particular to the widespread flooding caused by Storm Babet in October 2023.

To date, the OPW has completed 55 flood relief schemes nationwide. These are providing protection to over 13,500 properties, and an economic benefit to the State in damages and losses avoided estimated to be in the region of €2 billion.

The catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme, the largest study of flood risk, was completed by the OPW in 2018. The output from this study was the flood risk management plans that are providing the evidence for a proactive approach for designing and constructing 150 flood relief schemes for the most affected communities.

Since 2018, the Government has trebled the number of flood relief schemes at design and construction to some 100. This has been achieved through the partnership delivery model between the OPW and local authorities, and by the OPW increasing the capacity of the local authority sector. Today, the OPW funds some 50 project management and engineering staff across the local authority sector. They are leading the delivery of flood relief schemes within their administrative areas.

While funding under the national development plan, of €1.3 billion to 2030, is available for the flood relief measures identified in the flood risk management plans, it is not feasible to progress all the flood relief schemes identified by the plans concurrently due to limited capacity in the local authorities and the specialised consultancy market. The flood-relief delivery programme was subdivided into two tranches, focusing initially on tranche 1 schemes and those already in the delivery pipeline. Under the national programme, work has yet to commence on the design of some 54 tranche 2 flood relief schemes.

Regarding challenges affecting scheme delivery and the impact of these on the timeline, senior officials in the OPW engaged with the directors of services of local authorities in spring 2023 to discuss and develop a planned national approach to future schemes that matches the return on investment from the available capacity between the local authorities and OPW.

One of the important lessons learned from the current delivery model is the time taken to gather the necessary data on the causes of flooding and the landscape of a community at risk.

Any flood relief scheme needs to map and understand the location and the flooding sources and constraints. This is achieved by extensive and wide-ranging surveys. In consideration of the above, the OPW is piloting a new delivery model for flood relief schemes through four tranche 2 schemes in counties Kilkenny and Donegal. These are known as the tranche 2 pilot. There are two tranche 2 pilot schemes in County Kilkenny, in Freshford and Piltown, and two in County Donegal, in Donegal town and Letterkenny.

The tranche 2 pilot will transfer the management of data-gathering, as a first step in designing a scheme, from consultant engineers for a single scheme to the local authorities for all schemes in the pilot and, where feasible, within their areas of responsibility. The pilot means that data gathering may be scaled up from individual communities to all schemes in a county. The pilot will better inform the prioritisation of future schemes nationally and the scope of services required from consultants to design and construct flood relief schemes.

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply, in which he stated, “Any flood relief scheme needs to map and understand the location and the flooding sources and constraints.” This is spot on, but I just want a preventative measure very fast. Land at Gleann Fia, the land next door to the site at Mogeely, owned by a farmer, can hold water, and there is an agreement in this regard. We can divert the water away from the timber houses. If there is a constraint that we can lift very fast, it will be a win for everybody.

The majority of the flood protection gates people are getting are only about 3 ft high. Some people have had 5 ft of water. When I met the residents last Friday night, I was actually taken aback. I do not know whether it is a matter of who sourced the gates but to me it is a case of a car jack in a wetsuit if a gate 3 ft high is being used to stop 5 ft of water. It does not make sense and I want the Minister of State to know that. At the far side of the bridge where the Maghy family is, where the bend in the river was, there is a flood plain. It has not been dropped enough for the water to get in. The family were very close to being flooded again.

Could the Minister of State commit to meeting the residents’ group when in Cork again? They are very honest. It is a matter of urgency and fear. It is summer now and everything is grand, but if the crap hits the fan again and these people are flooded, they will be broken mentally, financially and every other way. We just need what I have requested and to have tranche 2 as soon as we can to start preventive work, no matter how minor. I congratulate the county council and OPW, which have been working well, but we just need to resource everybody better. If there is European money available, let us ask for it.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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As the Deputy knows, I have visited Midleton and know too well the strain that is on the people there and the other groups, particularly in the other areas that have been flooded. No one knows that better than I do. Since my taking up this role, we have gone from five schemes to 13 schemes, with 11 at construction and two more to follow this year. That is a huge jump. The OPW is working with the local authorities. The whole-of-government approach is trying to help people and communities that are suffering greatly. They are the people the Deputy and I represent.

I have travelled most of the country and have been down in the Deputy's neck of the woods. I was in it again last week. My wife asked me last Sunday where I was going. I said I was going to Cork and she said to me, "They see more of you than I do." I am all too well aware of the issues. I feel for people greatly when it comes to flooding. I spoke to the local authorities. I am there to help the local authorities and I want to move on tranche 2 schemes. That is why I brought the issue to the fore and why we have teams meeting with the local authorities to see how fast we can move. We talk about what is available.

On the minor works scheme, I engaged with Kevin in Cork the other day and I said to him that when I go down and meet these groups up and down the country, not just in Cork, I want the local authorities to use the minor works scheme to do interim solutions to help the people in the communities. I am somewhat taken aback when the Deputy refers to flood gates. They are an interim solution, not the final solution. They give people comfort and they do work. I know what the Deputy is saying about a flood of 5 ft. I can understand that quite clearly. However, when that proposal is put to the people, they grasp it because they need support and help. That is what we are here to provide. The Government has backed it up with the money and now we just have to deliver the scheme. From having five schemes to having 11 schemes at construction stage in such a short few months shows we are delivering, working with the local authorities up and down the country.