Maria Byrne (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber this morning.

Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State is very welcome. I am glad to see him in the post.

The problem I wish to raise today concerns Bridge Street, Killybegs, which was flooded in 2017. Bridge Street was also flooded on 23 and 24 November 2024. People awoke to the sound of the local fire brigade and locals knocking on the doors to get residents out. Residents could not believe their eyes. It was something one would see in a film, and that is putting it mildly. The Minister of State saw the footage on Sky and everywhere else. This was the second time it happened, and we can never let it happen again. I was on site the morning of 24 November and saw first-hand the decimation it caused. The local people got stuck in as soon as possible once the alarm was raised, and I cannot thank them enough.

Residents now cannot sleep at night when there is a weather warning. They are too afraid to go to sleep. It is March now and the sandbags are still outside the doors, believe it or not. I can show the Minister of State photographs. Some businesses have closed. The launderette was there for decades, but it closed. It served the town and the whole area from Malin Beg as far as Donegal town. It was heartbreaking for that family to have had to close. The price of what they would get would not even buy one machine. That is the reality of it all. As far as I am aware, only one person has received any funding. The rest are still waiting and that is five months later. We are here to help people, and I know the Minister of State is a man who gets stuck in and does help people. I am asking him to help the people of Bridge Street in Killybegs. It is five months on, and nobody came back to the residents to say there was a plan in place and outline what they were going to do. They now live in fear whenever there is a weather warning. I ask the Minister of State for an update on how we can get these people back to normal. Life has not been normal on Bridge Street in Killybegs since 24 November. I ask the Minister of State for a helping hand to try to get it sorted out once and for all so that this will never happen again.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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I thank the Senator very much. It is great to be in the House again. I welcome everyone. No more than myself, it is great to be back. We all work to help people up and down the country.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I assure him that I am aware of the damage caused by flooding in Killybegs on the night of 23 November and into the morning of 24 November last. I understand that, at their peak, the flood waters rose to approximately 1.2 m and flooded 16 houses and nine business. Following on from this serious event, the OPW met Donegal County Council to review the potential flood relief measures. Donegal County Council and the OPW have worked together to prepare a list of potential flood relief measures and have agreed a pilot scheme to roll out, which will be 100% funded by the OPW. The pilot is being delivered by Donegal County Council, which is tasked with scoping and managing contracts for specialist consultants and contractors who will complete the flood relief works.The pilot will categorise the magnitude of the flooding in 2024 against historic flooding in 2017 and in 2012. Proposed measures will be modelled to assess their benefits and crucially to ensure there is no increased flood risk elsewhere. In the end all proposed works will aid in understanding the delivery of the main flood relief scheme for Killybegs, which is on the flood risk management plan for the county. Advanced works implemented through the pilot scheme will not provide the same standard of protection as the main scheme, but will help to reduce the impact, particularly during lower magnitude floods.

The first phase of these works is now under way. Donegal County Council has been given approval to undertake channel clearance and drainage works and to undertake an assessment of the drainage network together with supply and installation of non-return valves on the council’s owned roads drainage system. Donegal County Council has also been approved to engage consultants to undertake a hydrological review of the CFRAM data, updating it to include the November 2024 event as well as the 2017 event, if possible, such that 2024 and 2017 return periods are estimated and design flows updated accordingly as necessary. This potentially could include a review of the existing topographic sections with a recommendation on what new survey data may be required. The council is to review and prioritise a long list of potential measures that could be achieved on a short- and medium-term basis, informed in part by the consenting requirements for each measure.

Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State was in Bridge Street when this happened and is well aware of it. I just wish that somebody from Donegal County Council or the Department would liaise with the group on that same bridge to Killybegs. We had none of that information until the Minister of State came in here this morning. The people living there only want information, to see that something is going to be done, and to know when it will start and when it will finish. I thank the Minister of State for coming in this morning and giving us this information. Hopefully, we can get going on it and get this sorted once and for all. It can never happen again. As the Minister of State said, it was 1.2 m. People's livelihoods and everything they had in their houses are gone. A humanitarian fund is really needed. This is five months on. I know the Minister of State is a man who gets things done. I ask him to try to get this sorted out as quickly as he can because people need to have a standard of living in their houses. They are waiting for money to come and it needs to be sorted.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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I fully understand. Nobody knows more about flooding than I do. I have seen it not just in Athlone but all over the country. I have been engaged with my officials. In regard to a humanitarian fund, I will see where that is at and try to get it to those people. I can assure the Senator that my officials are working closely with me and the council. I have been invited to that particular area again. I am a person who, when I go to an area, I want to have something to say. I do not want to go and be long-winded. I want to make sure the people who woke up that morning have the fire brigades and the necessary people around them. I want to ease the worry and fear they have. I want to assure them that, as Minister of State, I will be behind them and help them as best I can. However, as I said, I will work with the local authority. Changes are coming and I hope in the not-too-distant future we will have something good to say.