Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that €70 million in funding is to be provided, in addition to the €25 million in humanitarian assistance already announced. I note these funds are intended to cover damage incurred prior to 6 January. Local authorities and the Government are to be commended on the speed with which they have responded to the storms and the emergency services have done Trojan work on the ground over the last several months.

The storms which ravaged the west of Ireland prior to 6 January caused damage estimated at €19 million in Galway county and €1.2 million in the city. This figure has certainly increased in the aftermath of the more recent storms. Even today, there are reports that the winds hitting the south and south west are the strongest in living memory. I am sure many people are living in fear along the west coast.

Last weekend the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food travelled to Galway. I accompanied him to Spiddal, where the promenade has been destroyed, as well as many other parts of the Connemara coastline. The areas that were damaged along the coastline of Galway city include Silver Strand, Blackrock to Southpark and Claddagh, Ballyloughan Beach and the Spanish Arch. The proposed extension of the promenade in Salthill to Silver Strand will be a critical tourist amenity for Galway city. Thousands of people walk along the promenade every week. The damage to the area between Silver Strand and Salthill promenade is estimated at €400,000. Galwegians have for years been calling for this coastline to be protected with buttresses and rock armour at the Knocknagoneen Drumlin, which has undergone significant erosion. The Aran Islands and Inishbofin off the west coast of Galway have also suffered severely from the storms. For the sake of tourism and the wild Atlantic way, it is important these areas are supported.

In regard to future proofing our coastline, Dr. Kieran Hickey of NUIG's school of geography has recently stated that the entire promenade in Salthill, which acted as a natural coastal defence for decades, should be raised 0.5 m because of climate change and the associated higher water levels. Those who are familiar with Salthill will realise what a huge undertaking that would be. As an island nation, we have a long history of flooding but we have always responded in an ad hoc manner, whereby we fixed the immediate problem and moved on. In these days of climate change, such an approach will no longer suffice.

Will the Government consider establishing a body with the relevant expertise to gather the various reports on climate change and analyse its potential impact on our coastline and waterways in order to develop a long-term programme for flood defence? The Government's national climate change strategy notes that the OPW is pursuing a number of research programmes and has produced regional coastal hazard maps, and a plethora of other bodies are also involved in planning and research. Notwithstanding the current constraints on the Exchequer, a long-term strategy needs to be put in place whereby one body is charged with mapping future changes and making recommendations to the Government instead of a multitude of agencies reporting at various times and by various means.

How does the OPW propose to deal with damage to critical local infrastructure that is not directly in the control of local authorities or in public ownership, for example, access routes to beaches, burial grounds or residential areas?