Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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486. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount that has been drawn down by Kerry County Council for works associated with the damage caused by the 2013-14 winter storms; if more funding will be provided to County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32359/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Following consideration of a report on the severe weather that affected Ireland in the period from mid-December 2013 to 6 January 2014, the Government decided on 11 February that a sum of up to €70 million will be made available for a programme of repair and remediation works. €62m of this will assist local authorities in the areas worst affected by severe weather in helping affected communities by restoring roads, coastal protection and other infrastructure, amenities and facilities including piers and harbours. The Government decision was based on estimates provided by local authorities, including those received from Kerry County Council. The Report on the Severe Weather from 13 December 2013 to 6 January 2014 contains details of estimates of the cost of damage caused on a county by county basis and has been published on my Department's website:

Requests for funding of new works to protect coastal areas have been referred to the Office for Public Works and are not covered by the Government decision of 11 February 2014.

The arrangements for the drawing down of the funds by local authorities on foot of the Government decision were finalised following discussions between local authorities, my Department, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Office of Public Works, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Local authorities, including Kerry County Council, have been notified of the sums being made available to them and have been requested to prioritise works which are significant for economic activity, with particular regard to the tourist season. It is proposed to make a sum of up to €2,699,991 available to Kerry County Council for a programme of repair works to roads, piers and harbours, coastal protection repairs, tourism infrastructure and other facilities which are classified as necessary community infrastructure. The sum of €2,699,991 for Kerry is allocated across a number of headings, as shown in the following table.

In addition to the above funding, a once-off allocation of €280,329 is being made to Kerry County Council to recoup the costs associated with the response to the storms. This includes the costs of response, clean-up works and necessary immediate works which were undertaken in the aftermath of the storms.

Arrangements are being made for payment of funds to local authorities, including Kerry County Council, for works undertaken that are due to be funded through my Department. In the case of Kerry County Council the total amount to be funded through my Department is €1,089,180 and is made up of €787,180 for tourism infrastructure, €17,000 for local authorities own infrastructure, €5,000 miscellaneous expenditure and €280,329 for response and clean-up costs mentioned above. A claim for drawdown of €280,329 for the response and clean-up costs has been received by my Department and is being examined with a view to payment as soon as possible.

The drawdown of funding for other works set out in the table above is a matter for the Council and the relevant Departments.