Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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207. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount of money drawn down by Kerry County Council for damages to coastal areas due to storm damage in the early part of 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44830/14]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Government Decision of 11^thFebruary 2014 allocated total funding of up to €69.5 million for clean-up, repair and restoration works in relation to public infrastructure that was damaged in the period 13^thDecember 2013 to 6^thJanuary 2014. Of this sum of €69.5 million, up to €19.6 million was allocated for repair of existing coastal protection and flood defences based on submissions and cost estimates made by the local authorities concerned to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (D/ECLG). This funding for repair of damaged coastal protection and flood defence infrastructure is being made available to the local authorities via the Office of Public Works (OPW) based on programmes of works submitted by the local authorities. The Departments of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Transport, Tourism and Sport (D/TTS) and Agriculture, Food and the Marine (D/AFM) are responsible for the approval of programmes of work and the disbursement of funding for repair of other damaged public infrastructure such as roads, piers, harbours and other community facilities and amenities.

The D/ECLG wrote to Kerry County Council on 27 February, 2014 indicating that, based on the estimate submitted by the Council to that Department, up to €1,226,920 was being made available to the Council to undertake the necessary repair works to damaged coastal protection and flood defence infrastructure identified by the Council in its submission to the D/ECLG. To date, the Council has submitted claims for and drawn down €861,561 of the allocation of €1,226,920 from the OPW. The Council has indicated that it expects to submit further claims for the balance of funding shortly. Information on the allocation of funding to Local Authorities for storm damage repairs is available on the OPW website and information on the amount drawn down from this allocation by each Local Authority is also available and is updated on a monthly basis.

The OPW is not aware of any sums that may have been drawn down by the Council from the D/ECLG, D/TTS or D/AFM in respect of the other categories of damaged infrastructure.