Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

571. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the procedures in place for county councils to apply for additional funding during severe weather; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2185/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Local authorities are designated as the lead agencies for coordinating a response to flooding and severe weather emergencies.

All local authorities have an established Severe Weather Assessment Team in place, monitoring Met Éireann weather warnings, High Tide Advisories and European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) advisory warnings. Local authorities also have Severe Weather/ Flood Plans in place to support the response to weather emergencies.

My Department undertakes the Lead Government Department role, as set out in the Strategic Emergency Management (SEM) Framework (2017), in relation to the coordination of national level responses to severe weather and flooding emergencies, where warranted. The Department's National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management undertakes this role and works closely with local authority Severe Weather Assessment Teams and Met Éireann.

Since 2009, my Department has made financial support of over €100 million available to assist local authorities in meeting the unbudgeted costs of clean-up and necessary immediate works, including for exceptional overtime payments, the hire of plant and heavy machinery, the purchase of materials required for the clean-up and the hire of contractors associated with significant severe weather emergency events.

This is in recognition of the exceptional nature of the activities carried out by local authorities in responding to these types of emergencies and the fact that the costs of these un-programmed activities could not be foreseen in annual expenditure planning. This practice is considered a vital enabler of the local authority action, providing the assurance that availability of resources is not a limiting factor in providing a very effective local response.

In the context of Storm Éowyn and the exceptional nature of the response activities carried out by local authorities, clearly the costs of these activities were not budgeted for within existing resources. As always, my Department, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, will work with local authorities to support them over the coming months, as they co-ordinate recovery and restoration works.

It should be noted that funding of repair of public infrastructure is undertaken by the relevant Department in line with its sectoral responsibility. Capital costs associated with infrastructural damage, for example damage to the roads network and coastal protection infrastructure (where relevant), are funded under relevant sectoral arrangements.