Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will go ahead so. A number of Senators raised questions relating to climate change. It is a major concern for each and every one of us and it faces us on the doorsteps. Some politicians want to ignore it but I was very impressed coming here as so many Senators spoke about climate change, both on the previous day and today. We must all deal with climate change; we cannot ignore it. It is coming down the tracks. Every flood defence, including embankments and walls, takes climate change into consideration, especially with the rise in sea levels and increased rainfall. The Office of Public Works, OPW, is very much on its game with respect to climate change.

Senator Paul Daly, along with a great number of others, raised the matter of insurance. Working with Insurance Ireland and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, I have come a long way since my first discussion about insurance. There is 78% coverage where we build flood walls or embankments, so insurance companies are insuring. There are issues but this is a matter for the Department. People here and in other places maintain that once a flood embankment is built, it is up to the OPW to insure them. We have a memorandum of understanding with insurance companies and we liaise with them, giving them information. In the past two years there has been a major improvement in insurance matters.

Catchment flood risk and assessment, CFRAM, is another matter that has long been spoken of. I spoke about it at a local level for ten years. It has identified 130 schemes right around the country. We are talking about 40,000 maps right around the country. In the process of delivering on those 130 schemes, we saw Galway, Donegal and Mountmellick being flooded, along with places like Bandon. CFRAM identified those. I am happy to say I have the 29 flood maps back from the Department and we are meeting the week after next to finalise a date for announcing CFRAM. It will be announced in Athlone in the coming weeks. I assure every Member in the House that I have put much effort into this. I have put much time into travelling around the country and meeting so many people affected by the issues. When Senators put down questions they come to me and the reply usually speaks about waiting for CFRAM. We are now coming to an end and CFRAM is to be delivered in the coming days.

Everybody believes the home relocation scheme is a fix for all people but it is not. Some people may have spent hours protecting their homes over three, four and five weeks and others would have seen their houses flooded. We set up a home relocation scheme to see what we could do for those people. There were 107 applications and 21 did not make the grade. My Department has asked those applicants to come back in. Some, particularly those along the Shannon, have said to me that if I can keep the water at the level it was this year, they would rather stay in their house as they do not want to relocate. At the same time, some people want to relocate. We have a roadshow at present which is meeting those people and trying to speed up the process of delivery. I am happy at the pace as it is not simple; we cannot just turn around and present this. It is a major issue for people to hand over the keys of their houses and not live where their sons and daughters were reared. Some people do not want to go. We are giving much consideration to this and working very closely with local authorities to ensure that the people who want to go and who qualify for the scheme will get a result. I am happy in that regard.

In the past number of weeks we have sped up the process. There are approximately 75 eligible applications and we are working through it. I do not deny it is a slow process from both sides. Senator Paul Daly said some people are wondering why it is taking so long. We have written to some people who have not come back to us yet. People have contacted me by phone and have told me they do not want to move. I must take all that into consideration.

A number of Senators raised the minor works scheme. We give €3 million per year for minor works and some local authorities around the country are better than others in coming for that money. Some are very slow to act. I say to Senators to go back to local councillors and local authority personnel and tell them where there are flooding issues. We have changed the criteria and this has made more authorities and schemes eligible for the fund.

I will deal with some of today's questions. Senator Paul Daly spoke about a potential lack of spending but he is wrong. Fianna Fáil has put out that information. In 2015, €16 million was not spent. For 2016 and 2017, I could have spent more than I had; I have spent all my allocation and I have not let any money go back. I looked for this ministerial job and I will spend every shilling available to me, as the Senator knows better than most. I fought tooth and nail in the capital budget for €1 billion for the people of this country and I got it. I intend to spend every shilling of it. I want to put a plan in place so whoever follows me as Minister of State with this responsibility will bring an end to flooding in many places right around the country.

There were queries about speeding up the planning process. I will meet officials from the Departments dealing with housing and heritage to see how we can speed up the process. I agree that the time between announcing a scheme and seeing shovels on the ground is far too long. I want to see if I can speed up that process.

The Senator spoke about a single agency dealing with dredging of the Shannon.I have worked closely with all the agencies on the River Shannon during the past nine months. With myself at the helm at the top of the table at all the meetings we have had, we are working collectively together on everything I have proposed, everything we have considered and all that we are trying to achieve. If I go down the route of creating a single agency for the Shannon, I will end up caught up in red tape and legal arguments and nothing will happen, but as the Minister responsible I will not stand by that.

I want to continue with the works I started last year. Senator Paul Daly will be aware that last year was the first time we saw machines in the River Shannon since Queen Victoria's time. People said it would never happen but we made it happen. We have delivered. I want to continue with those works. I agree with the Senator that we need to see maintenance works on the Shannon along with flood walls. It about protecting urban and rural areas and I want to look after the rural areas as much as the urban areas along the course of the Shannon. We applied for nine licences last year and got seven. We hope to continue that maintenance programme on the Shannon very shortly but the water level is high at present, and that is what I intend to do.

When the catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, study is announced, we will be protecting 95% of people's properties that are at risk from flooding. For the 5% of people's properties that will not be covered by it, it is my job to consider other schemes. That is what I am currently doing to ensure all those people's properties are protected. That is what I intend to do and I give the Senator an assurance on that.

Moving on to Senator Reilly's contribution, he will be aware that I visited the people in the Burrow in Portrane and met representatives of the local authority. Some person in the media, through a representative, put out the rumour that I was annoyed with Fingal County Council and said things about me that I never said. I have worked closely with Fingal County Council. People in the county council and officials in my Department spoke last night and they are working collectively to see if we can sort out the issue in Portrane. There is not an easy solution. I visited Portrane and most of the coastal areas around the country and Portrane is the most serious of them all. I will be honest in saying that. If we are going to seriously tackle the problem of coastal erosion, we can do works in Portrane that can be echoed right around the coastline.

As I said previously, I believe it was in the House, sometimes when one proposes a measure it might not fit into the landscape or it might not be what the people of the area want but it might be what we have to look to for the future. I visited Scotland recently and they have 97 properties ready to fall into the sea. They are thinking along the same lines I am thinking, namely, that we have to start thinking outside the box when it comes to coastal erosion, and that is something to which I am committed. My Department is working closely with Fingal County Council. I spoke to the heritage service last night and said that when we sit around the table we will try to fix the problem. I do not want to give any guarantees that I have a magic wand I can wave that will sort out the problem overnight. However, I am putting all the work and effort into trying to do that. That has been going on since 2012. I am only in this office eight months and I have singly put together the three groups that I believe can move forward with this and that can work together on it.

I may have to come back to the Senator on the two questions he asked me. A question was tabled to my Department but, as he can imagine, I would not be fully up to date on that. I will come back to him with a detailed response to those.

Senator Ned O'Sullivan asked about flood defences. I am on the same page as him in that respect. There are arguments in favour of walls versus embankments and vice versa, but that is not the issue, it is about protecting people. My job as Minister of State is to protect people. The Senator mentioned Cork, as did Senator Horkan. I went to Cork and met the people. Ii was not planned that I would walk into a shop. I met people on the streets. I asked them what they wanted and they had one request, namely, to build the walls for them. I advise everybody that I have €140 million to spend in Cork and I give great credit to the local councillors for taking the initiative with respect to planning under Part 8 of the legislation. People will see the good work the Office of Public Works does, and I say the good work because the OPW schemes have never failed. However, we cannot protect properties, buildings and towns without having disruption. We work closely with those people to try to minimise that disruption. The scheme in Clonmel that was mentioned earlier is fabulous. There is also a fabulous scheme in Waterford. We are working with people. Some people want glass; others want Perspex in this respect. The Senators should trust me on this, having regard to the River Dodder in Dublin. The Senators should go to see what we did there. All the glass we put up is broken or cracked. It does not look well. A tourist would ask, "What is the idea of a cracked wall". It is not a simple job to fix it for everyone.

I met people from Save Cork City on two occasions here in the House. I have met most of the Deputies on the issue. We had a presentation in the AV room and I would hate to tell the Senators the number of people who showed up from Leinster House. I was annoyed about it. We then put on displays in Cork and people showed up in great numbers, but the people who are giving out are not the ones who showed up. That annoys me too because I am trying to do what the people want. I accept that we have to have conversations, collaborate and deliver for the people but the people of Cork I met asked me one question, namely, to get on with the job. That is what I intend to do. That deals with Senator Buttimer's question.

Senator Leyden asked about Correal and Castleplunkett regarding the local authorities. They were refused for two schemes. They can come back on that under a new point under the minor works scheme. The Senator asked about Lough Funshinagh. I went down and met the people and the executive of Lough Funshinagh and they are going to come into my Department with a proposal in that regard. The Senator also asked about removing the weir board at Meelick Weir. I announced a €6 million investment last year to remove 22 pinch-points on the River Shannon. Based on the removal of those, the weir board will be taken out. I am happy about that.

Senator Lombard requested a update regarding a bridge in Bandon. We gave him that in writing and he was happy about that. He also spoke about Clonakilty which I visited last Friday and announced a €22.7 million scheme for the town.

Senator Mac Lochlainn asked about Buncrana and I gave him the information on that town. He also asked about Quigley's Point. A meeting has taken place between the local authorities and my Department and they are submitting an application for a minor works scheme.

Senator Dolan asked about flooding from the point of view of people with disabilities. I have forwarded his proposals to the national co-ordination group. I agree with what he said. Leaving aside flooding events, if we had a snow event such as the one we had last week, we need to be able to reach people with disabilities, ensure there is access to them and that they are looked after. That is a matter we have to take up at national level.

Regarding the contributions of Senators Maria Byrne and Kieran O'Donnell, I announced a scheme in that respect. I have not been found wanting and they know that. They asked about gulleys, roads and drainage. That is a matter for the local authority, not my Department, but where we can help we will help.

Senator Grace O'Sullivan asked about building on flood plains and the issue was also raised last week. I totally disagree with building on flood plains. Some people have said that we could build apartments on flood plains at a height above ground level but they will still flood. I am against building on flood plains. I will be straight up and honest about that because I have seen where houses were built on a flood plain in my town of Athlone and we had flooding there. For those reasons I stand over what I have said.

Senator Humphreys asked about road drainage. With respect to the allocation that came from Deputy Ross's Department, for the first time in ten years we have seen an allocation for drainage. I am happy about that and I have worked very closely with the Minister on that. I believe we can do such drainage works into the future.

Senator Hopkins asked about Ballinasloe. It is part from the CFRAM project and it is something that could be delivered. She asked about turloughs in other areas in her county, which are being controlled of Geological Survey Ireland which is monitoring the situation with the local authorities. She asked about a minor works scheme. We have always worked with local authorities on the minor works schemes.

Senator Conway-Walsh asked about Carraholly. I agree with what the Senator said but my officials have met Mayo County Council regarding Carraholly. The Minister, Deputy Ring, is working closely with me to deliver this and he wants to see that happen. The Senator also asked about flood defences, which is part of the CFRAM project. She also asked about road drainage, which comes under an allocation received by the local authority.

Senator Joe O'Reilly asked about insurance cover and the CFRAM study, which are matters with which I have dealt.

Senator Colm Burke raised the matter of the environmental impact assessment, EIA directive. I agree with him regarding the transposing of that directive into all arterial drainage legislation. We are working closely with people on the new directive from Europe to ensure it is transposed into all arterial drainage legislation. The Senator asked about Glashaboy. A tree felling contractor has been appointed and as soon as ground conditions improve that work will start.

Senator Mulherin asked about the CFRAM project in terms of Ballina. There are 130 schemes and Ballina has been identified with respect to a proposal in one of those schemes and we will see what happens. The Senator asked about Lacken Pier. It is a local authority issue and if representatives of the local authority come to my Department and if what is being considered meets the criteria, we will not be found wanting. The Senator also referred to the River Deel and Crossmolina which relate to the same issue.Senator Conway asked about an application relating to Cloghauninchy. I am happy to say that the planning application has now been submitted and is due on 9 March. We hope to proceed with that scheme.