Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. He and I have debated this before as a Commencement matter, and I will give him a brief of that again. Storm Bert struck Listowel in November 2024. We should not let the blue skies today fool us when we are discussing flooding issues. Even before Storm Bert, we had three flooding issues in Listowel in July 2022 that destroyed the town, which led to the flood relief schemes that have since commenced and been finished. During Storm Bert in 2024, the River Feale, which runs through Listowel, burst its banks, leading to the evacuation of approximately 70 homes. Floodwaters reached unprecedented levels with depths exceeding 4 m, which surpassed the previous record of 3.5 m. Listowel Racecourse, adjacent to the River Feale, suffered extensive damage. Floodwaters inundated the track and facilities, with water levels reaching up to 1.2 m, causing significant destruction. Racecourse director Pat Healy estimated the cost of the damage to be in the six-figure range. Residents in areas such as the Meadows and the Paddocks estates experienced severe flooding. As I stated previously, it went from saving homes to saving lives, especially in the Killocrim area, situated outside Listowel, which also faced significant flooding.

Since I became a Senator, I have told the people of the Listowel and Killocrim areas that works and reports have been drawn up. These were brought to councillors as long ago as March 2021. Since then, there has been no contact from the OPW or Kerry County Council to members, including the mayor, Jimmy Moloney, whom I spoke to recently. No correspondence whatsoever from any Department has informed people in the Listowel area when works are to commence. The Minister of State promised me that he would come to the Listowel area in April. I asked for that four weeks ago. It was an invite to come to Listowel but also an invite to tell me when works could commence. There are still sandbags on the streets of Listowel. There are a thousand sandbags at Killocrim. The one thing we do not want to see coming into anyone's town are sandbags because it runs down the whole area. I again ask the Minister of State to give me a start date for when these works can commence.