Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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301. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the timeline for the publication of the national coastal change management strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61572/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The National Coastal Change Management Strategy Steering Group is jointly chaired by my Department and the Office of Public Works (OPW). The Group is comprised of senior officials from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Met Éireann, and the County and City Management Association. The Group met for the first time on 3 September 2020.

Further to the initial meeting of the Steering Group in September 2020, a technical working group was also established under the stewardship of the OPW. The work of this group has focused on the identification and initial analysis of data sources, to underpin the work of the Steering Group.

Since the initial meeting in September, the work of the Steering Group was progressed through a series of bilateral meetings to scope out the extent of the issues, including, inter alia, the threats and effects of coastal change as they relate to the remit of the individual Steering Group members and the wider stakeholders.

The intention of these bilateral meetings has been to give an opportunity to discuss the emerging work of the Group and to stimulate the most effective engagement of these key stakeholders. The meetings to date have been very useful in allowing for issues relating to coastal change management to be reflected upon and explored in the context of the particular operations of the participating organisations.

The findings of the Steering Group are currently being finalised and a scoping report will be presented to Government for consideration early in 2022. The scoping report on a National Coastal Change Management Strategy is intended to provide a framework for key decisions to be taken on how Ireland could best manage its coastline in light of the future risks.