Catherine Noone (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, to the House.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, to the House, and I know his concern about these matters as I have heard him speaking about the €45 million fund that is available. He has stated that much more funding must be allocated. I know the efforts that he and his Department are making to obtain further funds from Europe with regard to the disaster that struck in recent times, particularly in view of the fact that two storms occurred in quick succession and did major damage everywhere. Although I am concerned about the effects everywhere, this matter relates to Rossbeigh, which was a fantastic expanse of sand dunes. I spoke today to my colleague Senator Tom Sheahan, who was born and grew up in Glenbeigh, a neighbouring village, and he told me there were 375 acres of sand dunes there not long ago and that is now down to approximately 100 acres. As the Minister of State probably knows, the gap between the dunes has extended to approximately a kilometre.

The concern must be for the back lands where the sea has invaded. I do not have the townland names off by heart but there are low-lying houses in the area, along with a unique 18-hole golf course, and I presume they are under threat. People are resident in the area and they face such a threat. What has happened to the beautiful beach is a disaster and I do not know what can be done. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response, as that is why I tabled this matter.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank my good friend and colleague, Senator Coghlan, for raising this important issue. As he has highlighted, we had a very difficult week or two, with storms ravaging parts of the western counties, especially Galway, Kerry, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Mayo. I know there is a Senator from Galway here and Waterford was also affected.

The Senator is aware that the Cabinet considered the matter yesterday and the initial assessment from the affected counties is that €65 million will be needed to repair some of the damage, of which €35 million relates to a variety of issues around coastal works. My Department has written to all the city and county managers advising them of the minor works schemes that we run in our Department, with funding of up to €500,000 provided for flood defence schemes of a minor nature. Anything beyond that is clearly on a larger scale. We have written to managers and changed some criteria to make it easier to make applications. I publicly gave a commitment - which I repeat tonight in the House - that when we see those applications come in from local authorities we will prioritise the counties that have been worst affected and see if we can quickly get money to these areas.

The first priority for us is to repair damaged flood schemes, as many parts of the western counties had flood schemes in place that have been damaged. The priority has to be to repair the damaged schemes as quickly as possible. It is still relatively early in the winter and there are difficult weather days before us. The €45 million allocation is for the whole country and we must wait to see the full scale of applications that will come to us. As I stated last week, it is inevitable that more funding will have to be found to deal with repairs.

The Senator raised the specific case of Rossbeigh. Consideration must be given to the fact that coastal erosion is a natural and ongoing process. Although it may have an adverse impact on coastal communities and infrastructure, it can also have beneficial effects, such as providing natural nourishment and a supply of sediment to adjacent beaches. Due to the considerable extent and nature of the Irish coastline affected by erosion and the fact that it is an ongoing natural process, it is clearly not feasible from an economic or practical viewpoint for the State to protect all of this coastline. Any approach toward addressing problems of coastal erosion must be informed by an assessment of the risks involved. The Government recognises this and is taking active measures to assess and monitor the risks of coastal erosion.

The Irish coastal protection strategy study, which is a major examination of this matter, is effectively complete, and this will provide invaluable and essential information. That strategy is providing an entire mapping system for the national coastline, which is a very important element in the proper management of the coastline. The Office of Public Works is currently undertaking a series of catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, studies, which also feed into the issue of coastal communities. The CFRAM assessments are supported by the collection of data under the programme following flood events to identify areas and numbers of properties flooded, flood depths and mechanisms, etc.

There is a tendency sometimes to assume that problems such as coastal erosion require fixing, usually through engineered solutions. These interventions are usually very costly in terms of both initial capital and ongoing maintenance costs. However, it is important to stand back and look at the problem in the round. For example, the European Commission study entitled Living with Coastal Erosion in Europe, completed in 2004, highlighted some important findings, including the fact that some previous interventions, while solving erosion problems locally, exacerbated coastal erosion at other locations. This study also highlighted the concept of "coastal squeeze" which occurs in low-lying and intertidal areas which would otherwise naturally adjust to changes in sea level, storms and tides but cannot do so due to the construction of sea walls. The outcome can often be a gradual loss of amenity beach and habitat.

To conclude, I assure the Senator that I am fully aware of the coastal erosion issues at Rossbeigh. I was there some years ago with a colleague of the Senator.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Only a year ago, I would say.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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That is right. The Office of Public Works will give due consideration to any application received from the local authority. As I indicated, however, the scale and nature of the erosion problem on the Rossbeigh spit needs to be looked at in a holistic manner, having regard to the natural processes in operation in that part of the coastline and the economic viability. We are really in the hands of Kerry County Council. If it wishes to apply for funding we will consider the application. I am not so sure there is any great confidence at local authority level that a scheme of work in the area would resolve the problem, as the issue is very complicated.

I know that might not be of any great assistance to the Senator at the moment but I assure him that were an application to come from Kerry County Council we would consider it.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. He referred to the natural erosion that occurs on the entire spit. Nature will have its way, so to speak. We must be concerned about the people who live in the area in so far as some remedial defences could be provided for them to prevent further erosion by the sea. Perhaps some defensive work could be carried out, in particular where the road meets the beach initially and where the car park and other facilities have been damaged. I fully appreciate what the Minister of State said about the totality of the situation. I wish him well in dealing with this considerable problem on a national basis.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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If a problem arises with a road following a storm that is an issue for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to resolve.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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We fund flood defences, big and small. That is our mandate. We have repeatedly given big and small amounts of money to all parts of the country amounting to €45 million on an annualised basis. That is €250 million over a five-year period from the Government. It is one of the few areas of capital funding that has not reduced. If anything, it has increased. We recognise that we are underfunded as a country when it comes to infrastructural flood defences. We have an open mind and if there is a solution to the problem we will look closely at what Kerry County Council includes in its application. If colleagues in other Departments can bring something to the party on the transport or tourism side we would also encourage that. In the first instance, if home owners have insurance, we would encourage them to speak to their insurance broker.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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I have received a communication from the Kerry county manager, Tom Curran, and I will communicate with him. I thank the Minister of State.