Office of Public Works Priorities and Progress: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19 ============================================================ Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House this evening. I also thank him for his comprehensive introduction. I agree that a lot of work has been done in the last 16 months. I thank him personally on the floor of the House today for the time he has given to me in Portumna and for coming down to the site there. Not only did he look at the castle but he also addressed our flooding concerns. That in itself is greatly appreciated. The Minister of State has shown his ability to bring local authorities to the table when it comes to prioritising both the arterial drainage and the smaller projects that can get moving. The work he has done in the Department since coming back into office is greatly appreciated. The local authorities talk about it locally. Those key enablers have ensured that the floodgate in Portumna can get prioritised and get moving. In regard to the floodgate, the N65 goes right through the town, but it is also where Connacht meets Leinster and at one point it also meets Munster. If the road is cut off, there is no accessibility. At the same time, 2,500 people live in the town. If we do not have the floodgate in place we could be cut off but it also means that houses are at risk. I thank the Minister of State for addressing that. I also acknowledge the work done on Portumna Castle and the investment that has gone into it. I look forward to working with the Minister of State during his term in this electoral cycle to ensure that we make the castle in Portumna accessible. We have a beautiful castle but you can only go in on the first floor. You cannot go to the second floor, although it is completely restored. We have done the windows and the floors. The pointing has been done on all the stonework but unfortunately, for fire and safety reasons, although we have a stairs, we need to have a second access point. I appeal to the Minister of State and his officials to put in a lift so that we could ensure people of all abilities are able get to the second storey. It is able to accommodate up to 200 people. We do not have a hotel any more in Portumna so it would assist us - not in banqueting or anything else like that - in bringing large conferences to the town if we were able to get that second floor open. It would be greatly appreciated and it would bring in extra availability as well. Perhaps we would be able to put on traditional music sessions and to capture some of the tourists that are coming into Limerick and bring them to Portumna. Perhaps tourists coming from Athlone could come to Portumna as well. We could share it out a bit. It is important that if there are visitors coming through and we have destinations like the castle in Portumna, as the Minister of State has in Athlone, that we can bring them into the Hidden Heartlands. I note the work he and his team do within the Hidden Heartlands and in capturing Ireland's Ancient East and Wild Atlantic Way. The Hidden Heartlands were lost for so many years and now we are putting them on a map as a destination. It it is bringing our rural towns and villages to life because we can bring busloads in to see our built heritage. Accessibility needs to be a key point in that regard. I will not discuss the south Galway floods because I am sure my colleague, Senator P.J. Murphy, will bring it up, but the flooding in Kinvara is still a priority in Galway and ensuring that the project is going at pace. Recently I was out canvassing for young Cillian Keane in Galway. I was down in Moran's on the Weir. I had not been in that area before. The woman talked about when the flood came in about 16 or 18 months ago. She said that they were on the top storey - the second floor - but the water came right above the window level on the ground. It takes the tide a half hour to turn and go out. Her only ask was about the local authority. A funding commitment was given to put in all the gates and the barriers. She asked that we would do that down at Moran's on the Weir to ensure the ten houses that are where the tide turns would get prioritisation. That is something I have seen done successfully in Galway. When barrier gates are put in front of businesses we protect livelihoods and homes. If that could be done at Moran's on the Weir it would be greatly appreciated. Tom Brennan would certainly appreciate seeing that done. I also compliment the team from the OPW on the work it did on the Famine commemoration in Portumna. The team came and worked with the Famine commemoration committee in Portumna workhouse. It worked with the local authorities to ensure that we were able to put on the show for the commemoration. It was the first time it was on outside of Dublin. It took place last Sunday in Portumna. I note the work that went into ensuring that our workhouse was given the platform that it required. That was down to a lot of heavy lifting and investment from the OPW. It would a great investment if the OPW were to think about taking over the workhouse in Portumna. It would tell a really good story of rags to riches. When I think of the Taoiseach's speech, it also tells the story of people who were so hungry and starving and the role of the workhouse. There is an opportunity for us to tie it all together in Portumna. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-19