Results 3,161-3,180 of 10,573 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Office of Public Works (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: I get many invitations, but the Deputy's invitation to spend a night with him on the Blasket Islands is a unique one. I probably cannot resist it, to be fair. I know that part of the world well. I visited recently and there is a great community there. The Office of Public Works was delighted to be able to sort out the issue with the playground with the local community. I thank Deputy...

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am advised by the Office of Public Works that a major flood relief scheme for Donegal town was identified in the flood risk management plans for the north-western river basin. The proposed project, at a preliminary cost estimate of €8.5 million, consists of floodwater storage and a series of flood embankments and walls, which will provide flood protection to approximately 73...

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: In the immediate aftermath of Storm Barra, I met the commissioners and chairman of the Office of Public Works and senior officials on a regionalised basis, dealing not only with the north west but with all our regions, to see if we could expedite those projects not currently in tranche 1. We have an issue in that, unfortunately, some of our projects are logjammed in judicial reviews, court...

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: I said in answer to an earlier priority question from Deputy Cairns from Cork South-West that we do not have the capacity, capability or even legal standing to move projects any faster because we are a party to planning processes. If we were to decide to try to gazump the planning process, people inside and outside this House would be looking to try to get us into the Four Courts. We have...

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: The voluntary homeowners relocation scheme was introduced by the Government in 2017 to address the serious flooding of those properties that flooded in the winter of 2015 and 2016, including those properties flooded by turloughs. To be eligible for assistance under this one-off scheme, a homeowner had to meet a number of conditions, including that floodwater entered and damaged the building...

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: As the Deputy will appreciate, a long-standing precedent means I cannot comment on individual cases in the House because I do not have the details. If the Deputy furnishes them to me, I can have them examined by the OPW and the relevant officials in the Department.

Ceisteanna Eile – Other Questions: Departmental Schemes (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: My two immediate predecessors in this role - Deputy Canney and former Deputy Moran - worked on the development and design of this scheme and the OPW will always hold it in our arsenal. If we need to revert to the Government with a similar request for relocations on a case-by-case basis, the OPW, together with the relevant authority, will seek to do that based on the lessons we have gleaned....

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: I visited Bantry following the recent flood events, including last month after the flooding of 28 properties during Storm Barra. I have seen at first hand the devastation that flooding has caused to homeowners, businesses and the wider Bantry community. The flood risk management plan launched in May 2018 included a recommendation to progress the design, planning and construction of a flood...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: There are two elements to this scheme. One concerns the culvert running through the centre of the town and the other is the flooding that happens from the harbour, which is part of the wider Bantry flood relief scheme. It is evident from meetings involving officials of Cork County Council and the OPW that the council is progressing the design of the culvert element via its own engineering...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Clonakilty scheme is completed and has been handed over to Cork County Council, while the schemes in Skibbereen and Bandon have more or less been completed as well. The true test of the pudding is in the eating, though. As someone who knows Bandon intimately, being able to say that the town did not flood during Storm Barra, and that my brother's pub did not flood, unlike in almost every...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: Thank You, Deputy Crowe, for your question in relation to the upcoming programme of works in Clare. Your query covers a range of projects from minor works to large capital programmes and drainage maintenance. The OPW have invested heavily in Flood Relief projects in County Clare over the last number of years and continue to do so with a cumulative value for active schemes in excess of 70...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Covid-19 Pandemic (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: The OPW has issued guidance on ventilation to Departments, based on the recommendations contained in the Government’s “Work Safely Protocol”. On an ongoing basis the OPW Maintenance Helpdesk provides advice and assistance on request to Departments occupying OPW buildings. Responsibility for risk assessing individual work places, including the level of ventilation in OPW...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: The OPW’s involvement with An Blascaod Mór goes back to 1988 with Ionad an Bhlascaoid, (the Blasket Centre) being developed with assistance from the locally based voluntary group, Fondúíreacht an Bhlascaoid in 1992-3. The Visitor Centre was officially opened in April 1994. The Visitor Centre site on the mainland at Dún Chaoin supports and animates the OPW’s...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Parks (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Office of Public Works has been actively progressing the various elements of the Phoenix Park Transport and Mobility Options Study, Post Consultation Report, June 2021, since its adoption by my Office. Over 2,200 submissions were received from members of the public, stakeholders and elected representatives. Five common themes emerged as follows: - walking & cycling; access, gates...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Heritage Sites (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: Glendruid Dolmen in Brennanstown is in the Guardianship of the State. Section 5 of the National Monuments Act (1930) allows owners of other national monuments to appoint the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage or the relevant local authority as guardian of such monuments, subject to their consent. This means in effect that while the property of such a monument remains vested...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Heritage Sites (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: In reply to your question, the Phoenix Park is unique in Ireland, comprising many components that serve a variety of functions. While it is a historic landscape of international significance enjoyed by millions of people on a yearly basis, it is also home to a number of important institutions including St Mary’s Hospital, Garda Headquarters and Aras an Uachtarain, all of which require...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: Climate change projections indicate that flooding events are expected to become more frequent and severe in the future. This will have a considerable impact on flood risk in Ireland, particularly where our cities and most of our main towns are located either on the coast or alongside our estuaries or rivers. Following on from the review of national flood policy, launched in 2018, the OPW...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 35, 48 and 55 together. The Government has noted the study by the Shannon Flood Risk State Agency Co-ordination Working Group that supports a programme of strategic maintenance to help mitigate flooding along the River Shannon and a further study on the removal of a series of constrictions or ‘pinch points’ through the Shannon Callows that can...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: Historically, flood risk management focused on the arterial drainage of river catchments to improve agricultural land. Maintenance of Arterial and Drainage District channels, designated under the Arterial Drainage Act 1945, is the responsibility of the OPW and Local Authorities respectively. These include the maintenance by the OPW of the Boyne, Inny and Glyde-and-Dee Arterial Drainage...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Coastal Protection (20 Jan 2022)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Government established the Inter-Departmental Group on Managing Coastal Change to scope out an approach for the development of a national co-ordinated and integrated strategy to manage the projected impact of coastal change to our coastal communities. The Inter-Departmental Group is jointly chaired by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the OPW and will bring...