Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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553. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will identify the additional level of funding required by Galway City and County Council as a result of Storm Éowyn, and whether the required additional funding will be provided via the Local Government Fund, must be sourced from their respective budgets or will come from given State funding streams or programmes; and if this source of funding will be identified. [37926/25]

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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554. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department has had any engagement with Galway City and County Council in relation to cost of the damage of storm Éowyn; the level of expenditure used for humanitarian assistance; whether these costs will be provided. [37927/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 553 and 554 together.

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. My Department's National Directorate for Fire & Emergency Management undertakes this role and works closely with local authority Severe Weather Assessment Teams and Met Éireann.

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 the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) advisory warnings. Local authorities also have Severe Weather/ Flood Plans in place to support the response to weather emergencies.

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 to underpin a rapid response by local authorities.

In the context of Storm Éowyn and the exceptional nature of the response and humanitarian assistance activities carried out by local authorities, clearly the costs of these activities were not budgeted for within existing resources. My Department is collating costs from all local authorities in relation to severe weather response earlier this year and, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, will work with local authorities to address relevant unbudgeted costs.

It should be noted that funding the 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 necessary), are funded under relevant sectoral arrangements.