Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)
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We have a slight change in running order. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, has agreed that we will take Senator Kennelly's item first.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State back to the floor of the Seanad. It is unfortunate that I have to raise this Commencement matter again. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for coming to receive it. I need to raise this issue of critical and urgent importance for the people of north Kerry, specifically the need for immediate commencement of short-term flood relief works in the Listowel and Killocrim areas. In March of this year, the Office of Public Works, OPW, gave a very clear commitment that temporary flood mitigation works would be carried out in both areas. That commitment was made in response to the disastrous flooding that struck in November - eight months ago - where homes, roads, farmlands and businesses were simply destroyed and, in some cases, devastated. In Listowel, several families were forced to evacuate and some are still not back in their homes. That is the worrying thing. In Killocrim, entire stretches of agricultural land were submerged.

The emotional and financial impact of that flooding is still being felt. This is July and the last time I spoke to the Minister of State, the sun was shinning. At the start of this week, there was a status yellow rain alert in north Kerry again. It sent ripples of fear through people. The rain that fell was more than a status yellow warning. As I said, the sun was shinning in July but in July 2022, the sun was also shining. We experienced three storm floods in that month that caused havoc, wreckage and carnage in all the areas.

We had a Listowel municipal district meeting on Monday morning with all the public representatives. They went crazy when they were told there was no starting date. They do not know what the OPW is playing at. They all made their feelings known on behalf of the people in those areas. It is not the representatives doing the war dance, but the people in the affected areas who had their houses flooded. I mentioned it to the Minister of State here that things went from saving homes to saving lives on that November day. That is how critical it was. I am not making it up. People are living in fear. Let us be absolutely clear that we are fast approaching the period when there is a threat of heavy rainfall, which we are seeing. The communities of Listowel and Killocrim cannot go through another season vulnerable to the same devastation they experienced just eight months ago. These short-term works are not optional, they are urgent and overdue.

It is recess next week. The severity of the November flooding has been acknowledged. The reports are done and everything is done. The waiting is over, as far as I am concerned. Therefore, I call on the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW to confirm to the public and the people of north Kerry when exactly these works will begin. I thank the Minister of State.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I assure him that the OPW and Kerry County Council are committed to progressing short-term flood relief measures for Listowel and Killocrim. Following a flood event in Listowel in November 2024, Kerry County Council engaged consultants to provide a report on the flood event and its findings were presented to the municipal district on 30 April 2025. They are now available to the public. Kerry County Council has discussed the findings of this report with the OPW.

The consultants, Malachy Walsh and Partners, are currently carrying out an assessment for the progression of the viable short-term flood defence works in Listowel and Killocrim as recommended in the flooding report. The outputs of this assessment, which may require hydraulic modelling, will be discussed with my officials upon completion. It will then be open to Kerry County Council to apply to the OPW for funding for temporary or interim measures, pending the commencement of the Listowel flood relief scheme. My officials will continue to engage with Kerry County Council and the consultants.

Funding for these measures can be considered through the OPW’s minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme. This minor works scheme was introduced by the OPW on an administrative, non-statutory basis in 2009. The purpose of the scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works or studies to address localised fluvial flooding and coastal protection problems within their administrative areas.

When I was here two months ago, I said to the Senator that I was working extremely hard to try to deliver on this scheme. I made it clear that it was a number one priority but working together is far better than working apart. I hear comments coming from Kerry. I am in the job a number of months. I have seriously taken this upon myself to deliver. You cannot do something in two months or three months.When designing a scheme like this, it has to be realised that 95% of the works are under the ground. That is the hardest part of delivering on a scheme, no matter where it is. There is one chance to get it right and if the rules and regulations are not heeded, you could end up in a different situation, meaning it could be delayed a little longer. However, I can assure the Senator that while people want to blame the OPW, I am waiting on a report from Kerry County Council to come back to my office. When I have it, it will determine the next phase and when I will be able to give the Senator starting and delivery times. What occurred happened in 2024. I spoke to the Senator in May and I have now moved things to the point where I hope to have a date in the near future for delivery on the scheme.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for the reply. It is very unfortunate that this is my third time to get the same response on the floor of the Seanad, and I am probably getting the same response from Kerry County Council. The Minister of State said we will all work together, but obviously some are not pulling together. If Kerry County Council is blaming the OPW and the OPW is blaming Kerry County Council, where do the people in the area stand? It is not fair to stand up again and say it is Kerry County Council’s problem when it is saying it is the OPW’s.

I realise the Minister of State has been in the job for only a couple of months and that he is probably working on the problem, and I really value his word on it, but I am getting the same response today that I got four months ago. We are heading towards September and the winter period but no one knows who is telling the truth. I ask that the Minister of State’s Department contact Kerry County Council this minute or that Kerry County Council contact the Department so both can sit down in the next 24 hours to come up with a start date for the works.

There is a job finishing in Listowel at the moment through the OPW. The promise was that it would move the staff and contractors down to the banks of the River Feale that burst in order to do the works. I do not know whether that promise was real. I ask that the Minister of State contact Kerry County Council today and come to a conclusion on this. What is happening is not on.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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That is unfair. A report has to be complied with. It has gone to Kerry. In fairness to the council, it is examining it and will come back to us. We are working together. There are no people working apart. Both the council and my officials are working on this. It is not as straightforward as the Senator thinks. Nobody in my Department gave a commitment to move machines to the affected area. They would not because the necessary work has to be carried out first. I told the Senator on the last occasion what happened at Lough Funshinagh, County Roscommon, where the i’s were not dotted and the t’s were not crossed. It ended up in a judicial review. We cannot come along and just do A, B and C; we have to comply with the report and follow through on it. I am working with Kerry County Council.

Since I came into office, the number of schemes at construction has increased from five to 11, with two more to follow. There are 100 schemes on the go at present and we have given a total of €4.2 million to Kerry County Council. We are working together; that is how you deliver. I am on the Senator’s side, just as I am on the side of the people of Listowel. Every TD in the Dáil is on to me asking the same question. I am working to deliver on the scheme in question, but we have to work together in doing so. There is no point in telling me my team is doing one thing and another is doing something else.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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It is not happening.

Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent)
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The local authority and my officials are working together.

Mike Kennelly (Fine Gael)
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I am sorry but that is not happening.