Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues who spoke in this useful debate and made interesting observations. While we are talking, many of our emergency personnel are out there fighting this and helping people. Everyone owes them a debt of gratitude for the work they are doing. I will deal as best I can with the points made.

Senator Thomas Byrne spoke about what happens when an emergency develops. If it is a transport emergency, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport leads, if it is a weather emergency, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government leads, and if it is a flood defence emergency, the Office of Public Works, OPW, leads. I attended the first emergency co-ordination meeting in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine where there is a specialised unit set up to deal with this situation. It is good to see everyone represented around the table, including Met Éireann, the HSE and the ESB, and reporting in. The system has been in place for a number of years and it is working.

The website established by the OPW called waterlevels.ie has a lot of information. It shows the height of the river closest to any point in the country. It is real-time information and people can see what is going on. I will report back to the House on the protocol for schools and whether the decision is taken centrally or by each board of management. The new Met Éireann system of codifying upcoming weather events is penetrating through to people about the serious nature of such events. In circumstances where there is a code red, a fair point has been made by many colleagues on whether schools in the area should close automatically. Is the decision taken by the Minister for Education and Skills or is it taken locally? We need clarity on that matter and I will report back to the House.

Senators Conway, Naughton and Mulcahy referred to having one Minister in charge. We set out €70 million in additional funds that can be drawn down by local authorities. There are existing schemes and this year I have €45 million to spend in the OPW on flood defences. Some €3.5 million is set aside for the minor works scheme, involving projects of up to €500,000. I will be inundated with applications in the coming weeks and by April my €3.5 million will be spent. I was present at the Cabinet discussion on this point yesterday. Through a Supplementary Estimate, I will have additional funds for drawdown. We are working through the existing Departments. Local authorities submit applications and we will provide funding to local authorities. When our funds dry up, we will return to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform at some point in April, May or June and seek Supplementary Estimates to be approved by both Houses to get more money. Our task is to give the money to the local authority, which procures workers and contractors to get the work done. That is the approach. We have not taken the approach of having one lead Department because we already have schemes. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport made an announcement two weeks ago that €350 million is now available to local authorities. It is up to them to spend the money. Let them spend the money and come back later for additional moneys. The system we put in place is to use the existing schemes rather than introducing new bureaucracy. The existing schemes have a means through which local authorities can be given funds.

Senator Barrett made interesting points about flood maps. There has been a sea change in attitude and I apologise for using the dreadful pun. When we present maps to a local authority now, the light switch immediately goes on. If there is talk of a planning application on these plains, it is removed. There has been a major change and the local authorities have greater regard for flood maps than was the case some years ago.

I agree with Senator Barrett that it is intolerable that Cork, the second-largest city and conurbation in the State, should be at risk of flooding every time there is a major weather event. We must deal with this, which is why I made the announcement last Thursday on behalf of the Government that in July we will have a preferred solution. There is a lack of understanding in the public debate. Getting to a solution is a major event and takes many years. We must hydrologically model the solution. In the case of Cork, there is a tidal problem and a fluvial problem of significant rainfall amounts. I have heard people suggest a tidal barrier but that would flood Cork because-----