Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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301. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when works on a project (details supplied) in County Kerry will proceed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34316/15]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The channel in question is part of the River Maine Catchment Drainage Scheme which was carried out by the Office of Public Works (OPW) under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945. The OPW continues to have a statutory responsibility for the maintenance of this scheme.

Each year the OPW carries out work to approximately 2,000km of channels and about 200 structures around the country as part of its ongoing and rolling arterial drainage maintenance programme. While the average cycle of maintenance is generally in the range 4 to 7 years, the OPW does routinely inspect all channels and structures for which it has maintenance responsibility. The timing of work on individual projects is determined having regard to the needs of regular maintenance and the prioritisation of urgent jobs.

In the case of the River Maine Catchment Drainage Scheme, maintenance resources are currently concentrated on works to damaged defences in tidal reaches. At this stage it is not possible to indicate when work might proceed on the project mentioned by the Deputy.