Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Senator that we need a national plan. When CFRAM is concluded, we will for the first time in the history of the State have a national flood mapping exercise. However, more than just mapping the problem, we will also have structural solutions where they exist for each of the problems. That will provide a roadmap for this and future Governments to deliver once and for all on the major infrastructural projects that need to be delivered in relation to flood mitigation.

The Senator also touched on the issue of flood insurance. There are a range of issues related to flooding that fall well outside the remit of the Office of Public Works. Flood forecasting falls within the remit of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Flood insurance and insurance policies are the responsibility of the Department of Finance. I have reconvened the interdepartmental group which brings together all the Departments with responsibility for various elements of what I call the whole of Government approach we need to take and that is due to report to Cabinet early next year. In relation to Claregalway, I sense and share the frustration of residents in Senator Naughton's part of the country. The OPW has committed to fully funding this scheme. That funding is available and our expenditure profile is up to 2017. As the Senator may be aware, under a different European directive, once we carry out an environmental income statement, and follow the other necessary statutory processes, it must be independently reviewed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. That is where that is at. I hope it does not take much longer. I expect that works can start at the end of this year or early next year. I am very much aware that residents want the work to start as quickly as possible but from an OPW perspective the funding is fully in place and it is in our profiles right up to 2017.