Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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125. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the progress to date on funding works required on the weir at Ballincollig Regional Park; the engagement there has been with the local authority to progress these works; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10538/23]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Ballincollig Weir, which is part of Ballincollig Regional Park, is in the ownership of Cork City Council since the boundary change between Cork County and City in June 2019. The Weir had apparently been in a state of disrepair for many years before a breach occurred in December 2014, which has left the weir in extremely poor condition.

While there are no hydraulic benefits to the flood relief scheme from the weir, the Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme Steering Group has agreed to assess the feasibility of incorporating any remedial works to the weir into the construction contract and budget for the proposed Scheme.

The nature of any such remedial works will be subject to an assessment of planning, structural, fisheries and cultural heritage considerations, which the Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme Steering Group asked the Scheme’s design consultants, contracted by the OPW, to review. The consultants’ proposal to undertake a preliminary feasibility assessment and constraints study for the reinstatement of Ballincollig Weir has been approved and is ongoing and due to be completed, at the earliest in Quarter 2 of 2023.