Office of Public Works Priorities and Progress: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19
============================================================

Noel O'Donovan (FG), Nominated by the Taoiseach

I want to praise the Minister of State and the Office of Public Works for the development of flood schemes across west Cork in the past ten to 15 years. The towns of Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibbereen have been protected from floods for many years ahead. Some of these towns are going through public realm works. We see footpath improvements, pavement works and town enhancements.
The "but" is that Bantry is a town I want to see delivery on. The Minister of State is a man who has worked hard on flood schemes in his own town and throughout the country. Bantry is by the sea and experiences both tidal flooding and fluvial river flooding. A scheme is being developed in conjunction with Cork County Council to upgrade a culvert. It is at detailed design stage and due to go to construction next year. It is expected to cost up to €30 million. Following on from that will be the overall flood scheme in the town, which is expected to start in 2030 or 2031. I praise the OPW for schemes in other towns but Bantry is a town that has been left behind. Now we are seeing development through the stages. I am looking for a clear commitment from the Minister of State and Government that Bantry will be funded and the culvert will be upgraded once and for all so that Bantry can be supported and no more flooding will happen in the town.

---

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