Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House; it is great to have him here. This issue of how we are going to cope with the devastation of the flooding is very important for west Cork and its residents and for Cork County Council. On 19 and 20 August 2020, there was a very severe storm with exceptional winds and rain, and within seven days, on 25 August, there was another period of 12 hours of torrential rain, which caused exceptional damage, particularly to the roads of west Cork. We have all seen the flooding in places like Rosscarbery, Bantry, Skibbereen and Bandon, where there were frightening scenes that really affected businesses and households throughout the entire province itself.

The issues pertain to the towns such as Bandon, Bantry, Skibbereen, Dunmanway, Rosscarbery, Clonakilty, Leap and Ballydehob, which all suffered serious damage. However the secondary roads were destroyed, and that has been the core issue. The road network in county Cork is an amazing 12,000 km in length; it is the longest road network in Ireland. The amount of damage done to that network, and mainly to secondary roads, is estimated at €4.6 million. Cork County Council is going through a budget process at the moment, which is very hard on the local authority. It is using reserves to keep the council afloat, and it has seen major budget cuts in areas such as road maintenance, village renewal, beach cleaning and toilet cleaning. This deficit in the budget of almost €4.6 million is having a major impact on how it can provide services going forward.

I seek clarity from the Minister of State on what can be done in respect of the damage done to the majority of the secondary roads in west Cork. The issue is that only €1 million has been spent to date, as another €3.4 million is to be spent as soon as the council receives the funding to fix the road network itself. Without that, the secondary roads in west Cork in particular will be in a very poor state. I refer here to places such as Bantry, Schull and Skibbereen. These are very important parishes and parts of the county because an infrastructure is required for the tourism on which we all depend and which is not there at the moment. If we do not have the infrastructure, we will not have the throughput of tourists on which this part of the world really depends.

Therefore, I seek clarity and a pathway to ensure that Cork gets this funding because with it, the network can be rebuilt, that is, the roads that are badly required in west Cork and building can take place going forward, once the Covid-19 crisis is over.