Kevin Boxer Moran
Longford-Westmeath · Independent · Ireland
“I understand the Deputy's frustration and that of the people in the Gort lowlands. This is a very complex scheme. It is one of the most complex we have in the country. When we talk about swallow holes, turloughs and underground water, it is very complex. That is why we have the experts in the field working on this.”
“There has been a significant amount of public and stakeholder consultation for the scheme and Galway County Council and the OPW are presenting the emerging preferred option. The scheme, when completed, is expected to provide protection to 115 properties: 50 residential and 65 commercial.”
“This is a complex scheme but as the Deputy is aware, I made changes to the minor works scheme to allow local authorities to look at measures to facilitate them and the funding is there in that regard. That could be looked at.”
“I thank the Deputy for his kind words. The OPW does good work right across the region and particularly in his constituency, as he has outlined. I get asked to take over this castle or this monument every day of the week, and I do not have an endless pot to do that.”
“The Office of Public Works, OPW, and Galway County Council are working together on the development of the south Galway, Gort lowlands, flood relief scheme with Galway County Council acting as the lead authority.”
“It is not always the case that the OPW is delaying it; we are not. We are working collectively with Galway County Council in this case and with the people. We have had a number of consultations and I will continue to engage with the Deputy and others. I have been invited down to a meeting there shortly.”
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“The purpose of the scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works or studies to address localised flooding and coastal erosion problems in their administrative area. This scheme generally applies where a solution can be readily identified and achieved in a short timeframe. Funding of up to 90% of the cost is available subject to criteria. Applications are assessed by the OPW having regard to the economic, technical, social and environmental criteria of the scheme, including a cost-benefit ratio. Recently I announced an increase in funding supports to be made available to local authorities under the minor flood scheme, including an increase in the upper minor works threshold from €750,000 to €2 million. Details of these revisions to the scheme will be made available to local authorities shortly.”
“The pilot means that data gathering, where feasible, may be scaled up from individual communities to all schemes in a county. The pilot will then better inform the prioritisation of future schemes nationally and the scope of service required from consultants to design and facilitate the construction of flood relief schemes. The design of the schemes being delivered through this pilot is at an early stage of data collection to inform the appointment of engineering and environmental consultants. Localised flooding issues are a matter in the first instance for each local authority to investigate and address. The minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme was introduced by the OPW in 2009.”
“The flood relief scheme in Newbridge is part of the second tranche of flood relief schemes. It is anticipated this scheme will provide protection to up to 70 properties. The Government is committed to progressing these schemes under the national development plan. The OPW is piloting a new delivery model of flood relief schemes through tranche two schemes in counties Kilkenny and Donegal. This is referred to as the tranche two pilot. The two tranche two pilot schemes in County Kilkenny are in Freshford and Piltown and in County Donegal they are in Donegal town and Letterkenny. The tranche two pilot is transferring the management of data gathering, as a first step in designing a scheme, from consultant engineers for a single scheme to the local authority for all schemes in the pilot.”
“The OPW funds two engineering staff in Kildare County Council to support its delivery of the programme of schemes throughout the county. As it is not feasible to deliver all flood relief schemes concurrently due to constraints in specialised engineer skills in the OPW, local authorities and the consultancy market, the flood relief delivery programme was subdivided into two tranches, focusing initially on tranche one schemes and those already in the delivery pipeline. The prioritisation of the first tranche of the scheme was based on three criteria, including scale of projects, capacity to deliver a national programme and maximising the return on investment with reference to property numbers. Under the national programme, work has yet to commence on the design of 50 tranche two flood relief schemes.”
“I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this matter. I assure her that the OPW and Kildare County Council are committed to working in partnership to progress the flood relief measures. Throughout Kildare the OPW has completed four flood relief schemes which protect 110 properties against the risk of flooding. A further two flood relief schemes in Athy and Naas are at development and preliminary design stage. The Morell river flood management scheme is being progressed towards substantial completion. A further scheme in Leixlip to protect 60 properties is being led and progressed by the local authority, with funding provided by the OPW. Upon completion, these four schemes will give protection to 670 properties.”
“People say that when there is a crisis, we come in here and talk about. I am not going away from this issue. I am a hands-on Minister of State and I bring energy. We have 100 schemes at different stages. One critical part of that is we were spending €74 million a year. On my return back to this House last year, €102 million was spent on flood defences. That will tell Members the energy that my Department, the Government and I bring to this issue. This Government wants to successfully deliver the flood schemes for the people up and own this country. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.”
“The arterial drainage (amendment) Bill is ready to go into the House. That will halve the time in the planning process. When we put stuff into Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, or DPER as well call it, it could be two years there. We have now seen An Coimisiún Pleanála turn around schemes in six, eight and nine months. That is very positive, but it will not do everything. We will still need to put them into DPER, which will continue to deliver with the local authorities. The moneys I announced for the minor works scheme and channel cleaning is a bible to help local authorities up and down the country going forward. I will work with every Member. My door is open. If they have suggestions, do not be afraid to come to me.”
“While we sit here and stand here, we also have to recognise the resilience shown by communities over the past 20 days. I spoke to some of the farmers who came out with slurry tanks to soak water off roads or pulled cars off roads. People in corner shops that were affected still went down to the road to help their neighbour next door. That speaks volumes. People want help and they want answers. The Government has not been found wanting for support for people through funding for the Red Cross and the other business fund that is available. I have met the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste on a great number of occasions to discuss other ways we can fast-track the delivery of flood defences for people. We talk about it being critical infrastructure and it is, but the critical infrastructure Bill will not fix everything, but it will help.”
“We all talk about Enniscorthy and the way it was affected. In my county of Westmeath, I am thankful that the council's CEO Barry Kehoe acted efficiently with the local authorities working together to deliver the AquaDams. I heard people on the radio say that they did not what an AquaDam was. This is not about me. It is about us all coming together to deliver for these communities. There is a lot more we can do. I hope to host the first flooding conference where I will bring local authorities from around the country together and we can talk to them, look at solutions and drive on. Together we can make it happen. We have to stop fighting and blaming nature. We have to deal with nature and we have to deal with what is coming upon us.”
“I will bring in changes over the next number of weeks. The purchasing of equipment required to support local authorities was mentioned. This is happening. We are looking at ways of shortening the timeframe for delivering schemes. This is us working together with the local authorities. Members on the different sides of the House come in and say that the OPW is not doing enough. I need every single Member to go to their local authorities and talk to its staff about the schemes and get to know what is involved in a scheme. They should even visit places where we have done these big projects because the one thing that people forget is that 95% of the wall, glass or embankment that we see finished is underground and sometimes under the water. That, in itself, tells us the engineering and everything else that is involved to get it that level.”
“Deputy Fitzmaurice said that for once, we have the money. My job is to work with local authorities to deliver on these interim measures while we wait for long-term defences to be put in place for communities because people have suffered greatly and I do not like what has happened no more than anyone else in the House. We were lucky the two recent big events happened at night. If they had happened during the day, we could have been looking at something totally different. A 90-year-old woman in Dublin was taken out of her house in a brown bin to get her away from the floods. A man over 90 in Enniscorthy was taken out in a boat. Any human being would want to do more but despite what Members might say in the House, there are planning constraints and we have to deal with them and work together.”
“Long before what has happened in the past few weeks, I visited Kerry, Clontarf, Portrane and Strandhill in County Sligo. Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned Lough Funshinagh, which is close to my home. We brought in interim measures in the space of three months to deliver protection for those communities. There is a lot that has to be taken into account. Members come in here and say we should do this and that and reverse the matter concerning the pearl mussel. We will not do that. We build 56 schemes by working with the land and all the bodies. That is how we do it. We do not say it is a matter of one thing versus another for political reasons. That is wrong. My job is as Minister of State and the job of my Department and the Government is to work together with elected representatives and local authorities to deliver schemes. We have a plan.”
“When I look at areas from Louth to Enniscorthy that have seen so much flooding over the past number of weeks, I see at first hand what interim measures can do. I know that we worked tirelessly to protect the town of Athlone and, thankfully, the flood defences are there and people see the reward. I have expanded the arrangement involving five local authorities to eight. They are coming to meet me on 2 March. I will work with them to look at interim measures while we deliver the long-term solutions. We have also provided local authorities with staff to drive the delivery of these changes. We have made changes to the minor works scheme increasing funding from €750,000 to €2 million. People talk about blockages in rivers. For the first time, I provided a budget and I will appeal to local authorities to deliver on it.”
“I said at the time that it would be the bible going forward in terms of flooding where we could see the areas that were badly affected and the areas that needed protection the most based on population. What we have seen is climate change. We have seen a severe change that is happening around the world. When I adopted those plans, I travelled the length and breadth of the country meeting local authorities. We achieved that and then had to look for the money. There is not a county where I could not tell Deputies how much of the €1.3 billion that is ring-fenced for flood prevention will be ring-fenced for that county. What changes have we brought forward after my return to Dáil Éireann?”
“I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. One theme emerged, namely, all of us working together. It is vitally important that we do not play politics because for the past number of weeks and years gone by, we have all seen the devastation flooding has caused families. While we talk about the water receding, people are trying to get their lives back together. The very thought of rainfall tonight brings back the fear that it may flood again. There has been a lot of talk about what has happened. We launched CFRAM in 2018. When we think of times before then, there was very little money in the country to deal with flooding because we went through recessions and all sorts of problems but we dealt with them. We adopted the CFRAM strategy in 2018.”
“I remain open to all ideas that can speed up delivery or further reduce flood risk. I thank Members for their attention and look forward to the debate.”
“Climate change will bring more storms and extreme weather and flood risk management must adapt accordingly. The OPW has published its climate change sectoral adaptation plan for 2025 to 2030. All new and ongoing flood schemes must now include a climate adaptation plan; nature-based solutions where feasible; an assessment of future sea-level rise scenarios, including rises up to 2 m; and consideration of tidal barriers for cities and major coastal areas. The OPW also supports planning authorities to ensure flood risk is properly considered in development decisions. I know many communities feel anxious as they wait for flood relief schemes to be delivered. I assure the House the Government is doing everything possible to progress this work quickly and effectively.”
“The OPW maintains 11,500 km of river channels, 800 km of embankments, 260,000 ha of agricultural land and flood protection for 20,000 properties, 2,400 km of roads and 77 towns and villages I thank all those involved in flood preparations and response - local authorities, An Garda Síochána, the HSE, civil defence and many more. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage leads national co-ordination through the national emergency co-ordination group. Stage I of the national flood forecasting and warning service was completed in 2023. Met Éireann now provides daily flood guidance to local authorities and State agencies. Stage II is now under the Government task force on emergency planning. It will deliver more detailed and accurate forecasts and community flood warnings.”
“Flood relief schemes take time because they require extensive surveys and environmental assessments as they must meet legal and EU requirements, they involve public consultation and judicial reviews can delay progress. Typical delivery time is about 11 years from start to finish. Other measures include minor flood mitigation works and the coastal protection scheme. Since 2009, the scheme has funded 900 projects, provided over €70 million in investment and reduced risk for 8,000 properties. In 2025, the funding limit increased from €750,000 to €2 million per project. Following Storm Chandra, I asked local authorities with major schemes under way to list all possible temporary measures to reduce risk while long-term solutions are being developed. I expect these plans shortly.”
“So far, the OPW has invested €580 million in 56 completed schemes, provided protection to 13,580 properties and delivered €2 billion in estimated avoided damages. Since 2018, the number of schemes at design, planning or construction stage has increased to 100 active schemes with ten schemes at construction, five schemes at detailed design, ten schemes at planning stage and 69 schemes in development or preliminary design. There are limits on available specialist engineering and environmental expertise. As a result, schemes are delivered in two tranches. A national pilot is under way to test a more efficient delivery model for tranche two schemes.”
“Key outputs include flood maps for 300 communities and 29 river basin flood risk management plans detailing suitable flood relief measures. These plans guide Government investment in flood protection, which includes around 150 flood relief schemes, protection for 23,000 homes and businesses and a Government commitment of €1.3 billion under the national development plan to 2030. When complete, 95% of properties assessed will have flood protection. Other measures will address remaining risks, including minor flood mitigation and coastal protection projects, individual property protection, the voluntary homeowners relocation scheme and enhanced forecasting and community resilience programmes.”
“This includes public information, emergency actions and early warnings. The co-ordination group also works to raise awareness and to encourage people and businesses to protect themselves and their property. Recent supports include an emergency response payment from Department of Social Protection covering eight counties with 137 payments issued by 13 February 2026 and the enhanced emergency humanitarian flooding scheme from the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. Funding for the latter scheme increased from €20,000 to €100,000 with 53 applications received by 16 February 2026. In 2018, the OPW completed the State’s largest ever flood-risk study - the CFRAM programme. It covered 80% of the primary flood risk in Ireland and identified solutions to protect 95% of that risk.”
“I look forward to working with them to deliver real solutions for communities affected by flooding. Reducing flood risk requires action across many Government Departments. The interdepartmental flood policy co-ordination group leads this work. Flood policy is built on three main pillars. The first is prevention, which involves avoiding or removing flood risk such as by stopping construction in flood-prone areas. The Office of the Planning Regulator and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage play key roles in this. The second is protection, which involves reducing the likelihood or severity of floods. This includes major flood relief schemes and, where suitable, nature-based solutions. The third is preparedness, which involves helping people and communities prepare for and respond to floods.”
“Last week, during Private Members' business, I listened carefully to the views of colleagues. We discussed the Government’s work on managing flood risk and responding to recent events. I welcome another chance today to continue that discussion. Flooding has become more common and more damaging both here and abroad. We have all seen the distress it causes homeowners, businesses, landowners and entire communities. Other nearby countries have also suffered serious floods recently. I again acknowledge the hardship faced by everyone affected by the recent flooding. I have visited many of the impacted areas myself. I have spoken to residents and business owners and understand their fear and frustration. I assure them and the House that the Government is fully committed to reducing flood risk and supporting those who need help.”
“After the devastation that happened in Enniscorthy, when we were talking about more rain my biggest concern was County Louth. Deputy Ó Murchú's colleagues in the House rang me. I was fearful. My team in the OPW met with the local authorities last week and will continue to engage. I need the local authorities to push on. I am providing staff to the local authority to deliver on those schemes.”
“Deputy Cahill is right that I visited Cromane. I met with Michael Healy-Rae's colleague in relation to the same issue only yesterday. I asked him to ask the local authority to come in with minor works for Cromane, and it will be dealt with. Let us call a spade a spade. When I visited the place during Christmas week, I identified areas that could get protection. I looked at the street and we identified one shop, a chemist, that did not flood. Why did it not flood? It put in its own individual property protection, IPP. I reached out that day to the local authorities to look at an IPP system through the minor works programme. I await that because I cannot drive it. I ask the Deputy to drive that with the local authority. We talked about the flooding of recent days.”
“I appeal to the Deputy to go out to Portrane to see what the local authority has done to get a licence from the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, to deal with flooding. We need local authorities to step up and apply for these licences. In order to apply, they have to show where they are going to carry out works and provide protection to people along the coast. If they do that, they can apply for a MARA licence. I thank the staff in MARA because it is the first time ever we got a licence to do work along the coast. The Deputy can see in Portrane the work that was done to protect that area. I advise Deputy Cahill, as I advise every Deputy in the House, to follow suit and deliver for his community through the local authorities.”
“Looking at the figures, there was €24,000 for the seawall in north Kerry through the minor works scheme. For the North Kerry Way, there was €18,000 through the minor works scheme. There was €150,000 for Tralee Bay, and €44,000 for Tralee itself. For the Fenit Road, there was €405,000, and €360,000 for the Fenit Road Lower. Over €1 million has been given out in recent years. There was €216,000 for Cromane Lower, €35,000 for Waterville, €450,000 for Rossbeigh and €195,000 for Glenbeigh. The OPW has not been found wanting in supporting Kerry and the local authority. The Deputy knows of my visit there in recent weeks, before Christmas, where we came with interim solutions for different parts of Kerry. We are now looking at coastal areas, but this is driven, in the first instance, by the local authority.”
“Funding has been made available to Kerry County Council, totalling €897,405, for works or studies at Rossbeigh, Waterville, Kenmare, Glenbeigh and Cromane Lower through the minor works scheme. I have a long list of other schemes that I can give to the Deputy afterwards.”
“The purpose of this scheme is to provide 90% of funding to local authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works and studies to address localised flooding or coastal erosion problems. The scheme generally applies where a solution can be readily identified and achieved in a short timeframe. The funding available for each scheme has recently been increased from €750,000 to €2 million. Further details related to this are due to be announced shortly. The minor works scheme is a demand-led scheme. Funding allocated is based on the cost submitted by the local authorities for consideration. Since 2009, the OPW has approved some 40 projects and €4.2 million for Kerry County Council under the minor works schemes. Some €2.9 million of this approved funding relates to coastal erosion works and studies.”
“I am very familiar with the coastal erosion and flooding issues in Kerry having visited the county twice, on 11 and 12 September and on 20 and 21 November 2025. Localised coastal erosion and flooding issues are a matter, in the first instance, for each local authority to investigate and address. The OPW is working closely with Kerry County Council to implement a number of initiatives to tackle coastal erosion and flooding in the county. We are currently funding three local authority staff in Kerry County Council to manage the delivery of flood relief schemes: a senior executive engineer, an executive engineer and a senior staff member. The minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme was introduced by the Office of Public Works in 2009.”
“I will go further and will talk to the local authorities for the Deputy. As I said, everywhere is gone over the last 15 days, I have to intervene to try to drive on schemes, when the local authorities have the resources - sometimes we are funding them - and the means to get on with the scheme. People will say it is the OPW but it is not and we have to wake up to that. We all have to work together. I am sick of saying that in this House. We should not play politics with flooding. Sometimes we do have to say the scheme is there and the money is there, so get a scheme in place in the interim to deliver part of the long-term solution. As the Deputy has asked me, I will make phone calls to see how I can drive on the scheme further.”
“I cannot be more clear than to say it is driven by the local authorities. They work with my Department. There are significant delays in the modelling but I am giving the Deputy a way to alleviate that pressure through the minor works programme while we wait for the overall scheme. The local authorities have it within their remit to do that. While I fully appreciate the pressure the Deputy is under from the local community, delivering protection to the local community is very important. Local authorities are the people who drive on these schemes. We support them with the advice and the finance but we also help them to deliver schemes. The local authorities know only too well about the minor works scheme and I believe they can play a pivotal role in delivering an interim solution to the problem the Deputy is raising.”
“To bring it to the next stage, if the Deputy can get the local authorities to agree, I will meet with it to see if we can push it on together.”
“In the first instance, it is up to the local authority to come forward with the scheme and the Deputy can play a pivotal role in doing that. She can go into the local authority and ask what stage it is at and look to engage with me. The Deputy can be part of that. It is about us all working together. Communities are being affected up and down the country. My job is as Minister of State but I keep saying in the House that I need help from all the public representatives as well as TDs to drive on these schemes. There is a minor works scheme and funding has been increased from €750,000 to €2 million. It is open to all local authorities to come in and identify a solution in the short term while we are waiting. I agree with the Deputy that this has been going on quite a long time.”
“The OPW welcomes applications for funding under the scheme and is available to engage with local authorities. I know first hand the pain people out there are going through out there. As I said to the Deputy, while we are waiting for the long-term scheme, there is a strong possibility that the local authority could engage around the minor works programme. I have not spoken to the Deputy before in relation to this but I have visited a lot of the areas up and down the country. I tell people that I read the water and I understand when there is a flood. I watch where the water recedes and follow the water paths. I always look at them in the context of a minor works application or some solution being found. I believe one can be found here.”
“The proposed Camac flood alleviation scheme may include the construction of new flood defence walls with floodgates and the possible strengthening and raising of existing flood defence walls. The construction of new flood defence embankments is in addition to the possible raising of existing embankments. The current estimated cost for the delivery of the scheme is €50 million. It is open to Dublin City Council to apply to the OPW for funding for flood mitigation works under the OPW's minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme in advance of the delivery of the main scheme. The purpose of the scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works or studies to address localised flooding and coastal protection problems within their administrative areas.”
“Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council, with funding provided by the OPW, are leading the development and design of the River Camac flood alleviation scheme to manage the flooding risk within the catchment of the River Camac to protect some 413 properties. The River Camac is an unusually complex river system, and has presented significant challenges during the modelling of the flood risk and the design options for a flood relief scheme. Work on the modelling of the flood risk is continuing and it is programmed to be completed later this year. There are monthly meetings of the steering group between the council, the OPW and the consultants to complete this work.”
“It was seven years ago, as the Deputy said. A site was identified, but I cannot tell the Deputy why the project did not go ahead. I have been out of government for five years. I am back. The Deputy raised this with me at committee level. I reached out to the Department of justice, on his behalf and on that of other Deputies who represent the area, to try to bring this scheme forward. I am asked every type of question in this House about the building of Garda stations. As stated, I am the contracting authority. Until a project comes before me, I cannot build. When a project does come before me, I will do it. I will speak to the Minister for justice in order to see how we can expedite this matter and bring it to a conclusion. I promise the Deputy that.”
“The projects in this regard are very slow - I am not taking away from that - but an awful lot of work goes into identifying sites and building stations.”
“The Deputy has raised this consistently at committee meetings and in the House, and I agree with him about the timeframe and the delays. As he is well aware, however, I am the contracting authority. I build the Garda station when a particular project is presented to me. As already stated, money has been provided for the station. My Department will work closely with the Department of justice and An Garda Síochána. I cannot explain why work at the site to which the Deputy refers did not go ahead. However, I can tell the Deputy that the money for the project has been made available through the development plan. My job is to work with the Department of justice. When we find a site, we will get on with the job. We are delivering Garda stations around the country.”
“The Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration published its sectoral investment plan on 4 December last. The second phase of the plan is to focus on bringing the projects for Dublin metropolitan region, DMR, north, to construction in 2028. Following the publication of these priorities, the OPW will engage with An Garda Síochána and the Department of justice. This engagement will support the identification and appraisal of the most suitable site for this project.”
“While we all talk about the delivery of long-term projects, which is the overall large scheme, a lot can be done in the interim. That is something on which I have put a huge focus over the course of last year. That is why I made the changes to delivery. I want to continue that work, but I need help from everybody in the House to drive those projects forward. That is very important.”
“I will work with the Deputy and with the local authorities. He referred to on Portrane, which is another prime example of interim measures. This is the first time we have ever obtained a MARA licence to allow us to do work on the coast. That should happen in respect of areas all around the coast of Ireland. Other local authorities that have issues with coastal flooding should look at what was done in Portrane and, in the context of the MARA licence, deliver more critical infrastructure to protect communities. I look forward to engaging with the Deputy, his colleagues and the local authority. When a scheme that meets the criteria comes before me, I have never been found wanting. We have always engaged with local authorities to do the best thing for communities.”
“The Deputy and councillors have invited me to a meeting, which I look forward to attending in due course, to determine how we can deal with this, what we can do in the interim - we did the same thing last year - and whether we can do more.”
“I love the drive of the Deputy when it comes to this matter. He might be a colleague of mine, but if I could get every colleague in the House to go to their local authorities, drive schemes and develop the interim solutions such as those the Deputy is working on in Clontarf, I would be very grateful. We come into the House and blame the OPW and everybody else, but public representatives have a huge part to play in delivering by pushing local authorities. I fund local authorities in the context of staff, and I need them to drive schemes forward. Regarding Clontarf, I have changed the funding limit for the minor works scheme from €750,000 to €2 million. That will allow the local authority to develop more interim solutions.”
“My office worked with Dublin City Council on feasible alternatives, which I discussed with the local community, when I visited last October. This meeting facilitated the agreement for the replacement of the sandbags with interlocking barriers as a temporary measure. Dublin City Council has advised that over 300 m of the interlocking barriers have been successfully installed on the Alfie Byrne Road. Work will be completed in the coming weeks.”
“The scheme will be designed to protect against a one-in-200-years coastal event and meet the requirements of Insurance Ireland. Dublin City Council is leading the Clontarf flood relief scheme. The council and the OPW are engaging on the development of tender documents for the appointment of engineering and environmental consultants. Progressing a viable flood relief scheme for Clontarf is to be funded by the OPW, through funding for flood relief under the national development plan. Pending the design and completion of a permanent scheme, last year I prioritised the replacement of temporary sandbag structures along the promenade. In May, I met businesses and the local community to listen to their concerns regarding the appearance of the sandbags.”
“I have witnessed first-hand the impact of flooding and the devastation it causes to homes, businesses and local communities. I am very familiar with the flood risk in Clontarf, having visited the area and met with local representatives, businesses and the community in May and October of last year. As the Deputy is aware, Dublin City Council received planning consent for a flood relief scheme for Clontarf. However, the scheme did not progress to construction. The OPW is engaging with Dublin City Council to progress the design of the flood relief scheme for Clontarf. The assessment of the recent flooding is informing the development of scope of service for the appointment of engineering and environmental consultants and will also inform the design of the flood relief scheme for Clontarf.”
“I cannot believe the Deputy never mentioned the big cataract operation that was done in Dublin Zoo. It was all over the news all over the world. It was the first ever carried out. She did not mention the good work of the zoo. She continually comes in here and complains and says there is cruelty to the animals in Dublin Zoo. I asked her a question. Did she go into the zoo and meet the people or did she stand outside taking pictures and selfies and talking and complaining? She should go in and meet the staff and management to see the good work they do. The people love that zoo. It has hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and the Deputy is telling me that because one element she has centred on is wrong, everything is wrong in the zoo. The zoo is perfect in my eyes and I will continue to support it.”