Results 3,421-3,440 of 10,778 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not disagree with the Deputy for one minute. While this issue has not fallen on the OPW, the OPW is gladly taking on this responsibility because it is our bread and butter. We require the input of other Departments to ensure that everybody plays a responsible role in this, because the issue of how our coast will change is a societal problem. As the Deputy quite rightly said, our coast...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I do not think it is one of the most urgent issues; it is the most urgent issue, in my book, because of the number of people who live on our coast. Our largest urban centres, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford are all coastal. We also have a relationship with Northern Ireland, and Belfast and Derry are coastal. We are an island and the sea is rising around us. If we are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The only commitment that I can give the Deputy is that from my perspective, for the last year this is the issue that has preoccupied me most in the OPW, in terms of exercising my Government colleagues to ensure that it is raised. While a lot of air, hot and cold, was spewed at COP23, COP24, COP25 and COP26, the issue of how Ireland is going to deal with its coastal defences and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy. Through the CFRAM, programme, detailed engineering analysis, assessment and extensive public consultation was undertaken for 300 communities throughout the country, including 90 coastal areas, that were identified as the most likely to be impacted by future coastal and fluvial flooding. One key output of the CFRAM programme is the flood risk management plans, FRMPs, that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I can provide a more comprehensive answer to the Deputy in writing. I was in County Louth last year, shortly after I was appointed, and met the Louth county manager. I fully appreciate the concerns that exist. The Deputy is correct. The counties of Louth, Meath, Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow and down into Waterford and east Cork are particularly exposed. The speed at which we are responding...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The short answer is "No". For instance, what we will require in Dundalk are hard defences, flood embankments, walls, rock armour, coastal protection, demountable barriers, road raising, sluice gates, tanking, channel conveyancing improvements and road changes. There is a massive amount of work to be done in Dundalk alone, not to mention Drogheda, Baltray and Greenore. These are massive...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I thank the Deputy for her question. I hope to visit Galway in the next couple of weeks. I know there is a significant amount of anxiety in respect of the situation there. The OPW has developed a climate change sectoral adaptation plan for flood risk management that was approved by the Government in October 2019. The plan identifies on a national scale how climate change could impact...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The rent being paid by the Commissioners of Public Works in respect of the offices at Block 1, Miesian Plaza, is in accordance with the terms of the lease. However, the Office of Public Works, OPW, has previously acknowledged in reply to parliamentary questions that an issue arose on which they should have engaged with the landlord and sought to recalibrate the rental rate as a result of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Deputy will appreciate that I am not getting involved in a commercial negotiation on the floor of the Dáil. The Deputy has served as a Minister in the Government so she will know it would not be appropriate for me to do that. I have said in my reply today and in previous replies that the Deputy is correct that the OPW regrets that the issue arose in the first place. The OPW never...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I cannot do that and the Deputy knows that. I cannot negotiate on the floor of the Dáil on a commercially sensitive matter.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: Excuse me, I am replying to the Deputy. I cannot do what she has asked. Three meetings were held on 3 June, 24 August and 23 September. Another will take place and if subsequent meetings have to take place, the OPW will do that in a constructive fashion. We will do that on the basis that we want to get resolution to this matter. While this has been investigated by the Committee of Public...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: An Garda Síochána (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am advised by the Commissioners of Public Works that the former Garda stations in Ardagh and Ballinalee County Longford are vacant. There are no vacant former Garda stations in Co. Westmeath. In May of this year, my officials wrote to 12 local authorities advising them of the Town and Village Renewal Scheme funding that is available from the Department of Community and Rural Development....

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: National Parks (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 78 and 90 together. The Phoenix Park is a historic landscape of international importance and one of the largest designed landscapes in any European city. The Park extends to 1752 acres and represents a unique natural and cultural landscape that is both a historic park and a city park and which provides a setting for a range of activities and amenities. The...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Office of Public Works (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am delighted to advise that essential works at Carlow Castle have been completed and the site is available to the public since 29thOctober 2021. There was a need to put some localised fencing in place to keep visitors at a distance from the face of certain walls within the castle complex. These areas were highlighted as potential hazards during the recent work and until further structural...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Government has allowed for €1 billion of capital investment in Flood Risk Management to 2030 as part of the National Development Plan. This allocation is to allow the OPW, in collaboration with Local Authority Delivery Partners, to continue implementation of its comprehensive programme of investment in flood relief schemes nationally. The Office of Public Works has planned...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: An Garda Síochána (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: A Programme for Government included for a ‘pilot programme of station re-openings’ throughout the country, including Leighlinbridge Garda Station. Tenders for the refurbishment works were issued to contractors in July and submissions returned in August 2021. The evaluation of tenders submitted is now complete. This matter is the subject of ongoing discussion between An Garda...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Coastal Erosion (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Office of Public Works (OPW) prime responsibility in this area is the management of flood risk.The OPW does not have responsibility for the preparation of a national coastal erosion strategy. The OPW's prime responsibility in this area is the management of flood risk. However, the Government has established an Inter-Departmental Group on Managing Coastal Change to scope out an approach...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The OPW has an on-going relationship with the former Rivers Agency (now part of the Dept. for Infrastructure, Rivers, Northern Ireland) (DfI Rivers), which is the Competent Authority for the implementation of the 'Floods' Directive in Northern Ireland. In 2009, the OPW and Dfl Rivers agreed to establish a Cross-Border Co-ordination Group to co-ordinate the implementation of the ‘EU...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: The SkibbereenFlood Relief Scheme was substantially completed on 6th June 2019.All known defects arising from the construction have been remedied, with some delays as a result of Covid-19. Planning for the operation and maintenance of the scheme is ongoing in conjunction with Cork County Council, who will act as agents of the OPW in carrying out the statutory operation and maintenance of the...

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Flood Risk Management (16 Nov 2021)

Patrick O'Donovan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 106 and 111 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 Shannon and a further study on the removal of a series of constrictions or ‘pinch points’ through the Shannon Callows that can help...