Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and I welcome the establishment of the interdepartmental working group but it is critical that this is followed through with action. I want to see a situation whereby we see beaches like those at Courtown Harbour replenished. Obviously, there are many homes and other critical pieces of infrastructure around our coast that are at real risk. Establishing that database of infrastructure that needs to be protected is important. This is a multi-annual strategy that we are going to be dealing with for quite a long period and the urgency of this cannot be underestimated. As the Minister of State mentioned, every year we are seeing parts of our coast falling into the sea, not just from rising sea levels but particularly from storms. We really do need implementation of this strategy.