I join with others in welcoming the múinteoirí and their students. It is great to see them. They are wearing their school colours.

I undertake to work with the Deputy to see who is responsible. I am not sure if the OPW is involved. The Deputy wants a resolution and I will work with him in that regard. We may have some involvement but regardless of that, I will work with the Deputy on behalf of the Taoiseach and Government to find a resolution.

The catchment flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme was the largest study of flood risk in the country, studying the flood risk for two thirds of the population. Following this CFRAM assessment and the proposal of options, Galway City Council appointed consultant engineers in November 2020 to design a detail option to protect the city from a significant flood event in the future. During this time, it has become apparent the scale of flooding risk in Galway city is greater than suggested in the stra…

I said €50 million.

I will reread my prepared statement to be precise. I referred to the scale of the project and the fact the required defences are far greater, given we are now dealing with 940 properties rather than 312. I also mentioned hydrology, the further tests that are required regarding the impact of waves and the fact the scheme will protect more than three times as many properties. The best estimated cost for the scheme at this time is in the region of €50 million.

The Deputy will appreciate I have just come into my brief, but I have made myself familiar with the scheme. As she will know from my previous role, I am all about process. To give an update, the revised scope has been reviewed by the Coirib go Cósta steering group members and agreement has been reached on the revised scope, subject to agreement on a fee proposal with the consultants. Galway City Council is currently liaising with the consultants on its fee proposal, and once it has been agreed, the project programm…

My role as Minister of State is to progress the scheme as I have taken it over. In terms of process, the revised scope to deal with the 940 properties is being reviewed by the steering group and agreement has been reached. It is now agreeing the fee proposal with the consultants, Arup, and once that has been agreed, the steering group will publish the updated project programme on the website, which will happen shortly. I am committed to following up on this to ensure it will happen as quickly as possible.

In terms of process, the revised scope, of which the Deputy will be well aware because it is something she has brought up in Question Time previously, includes 940 properties in total, and the Deputy had defined the areas. That is being reviewed by the Coirib go Cósta steering group members and they have reached agreement on the revised scope, subject to agreement on a fee proposal from the consultants. Galway is currently liaising with the consultancy firm Arup on its fee proposal. Once that is agreed, the project…

That is the estimate as of now.

I understand the Deputy's frustration. It is something I will follow up on. She is very familiar with the scheme and she made reference to the areas it covers. It covers the quay walls and will extend from the dock and continue along the Long Walk to Spanish Arch. Properties in the Claddagh area, along with Grattan Road and Fr. Griffin would be provided protection by the construction of a quay wall along the Claddagh Basin and Nimmo's Pier. Flood defences along the property line of localised land and road-rising at…

Yes, consultants.

On the information that the Deputy is looking at in terms of the revised scope, Galway City Council is currently liaising with the consultants on its fee proposal. As I said, once that is agreed, the project programme can be finalised and then the project steering group will publish the updated programme to the project website shortly thereafter. What I am saying, in my capacity as Minister with responsibility for OPW, is I undertake to give the Deputy a commitment that I personally will follow up on it to look tha…

This is based on the question asked by the Deputy. In 2018, to establish those communities that are at risk from significant flood events, the OPW completed the largest study of flood risk ever undertaken by the State, namely, the catchment-based flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme. The programme studied 80% of Ireland’s primary flood risk and identified solutions that can protect more than 95% of that risk. Some 150 additional flood relief schemes were identified through this programme. The Gove…

I thank the Deputy. There is a detailed question submitted by Deputy Stanton, so out of respect for him I will deal with the issue of Midleton in depth-----

-----when we come to his question. It is out of respect. He put a lot of work into the question and it is something with which I want to deal. Following on from the comments of my colleague, the Minister, I am in a position to state that there are currently seven flood relief schemes at construction phase. Once completed, they will provide flood protection for nearly 1,800 properties. I refer to the Athlone flood alleviation scheme, the Glashaboy flood relief scheme at Glanmire and Sallybrook, the Morell river mana…

I will deal with the latter question first. The Crossmolina scheme is subject to planning consent. I will forward a detailed note on it to the Deputy. To go back to Deputy Tóibín's question, the CFRAM study on tranche 1 is about protecting 80% of properties. Flooding causes great difficulties for people. I know what it is like. I come from a constituency where there has been a large amount of flooding so I am fully aware. However, it is not fair to say that flood schemes are not being put in place. They are. Would …

I thank the Deputy. I know the commitment he has to Midleton and to this project. I am aware of the devastation caused by flooding to communities and the significant impact on people, families, businesses and communities. As the Deputy said, I visited Midleton in my previous role as Minister of State with responsibility for local government. I intend to visit again shortly in my current role as Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW. I saw the devastation first-hand with the Deputy. Along with Councillor…

I commit to meeting with the Cork County Council engineers and to going down to Midleton to meet the people of Midleton along with the Deputy and others. The Deputy referred to the planning side. Following Storm Babet, an assessment of the proposed scheme is under way and involves remodelling to test storm events against preferred options that were identified ahead of Storm Babet. Results show we can be confident we have designed a scheme that can meet the standard of protection. The next steps are to finalise the …

The estimated time for application for consent between the two is not significantly different. We cannot speed up the process so that is why we need interim measures. We will be looking at some time towards 2025-2026. The decision on the planning consent must consider the risk of additional challenges to the route. That is something I will take up with the officials and that is why it is so important we take these interim measures now. On the insurance side, the Deputy is well aware the insurance industry cannot re…

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. I visited Lough Funshinagh because I am not great in the abstract; I wanted to see first-hand and I am very much solution focused. My trip to Lough Funshinagh was to meet the people, but also to see it first-hand for myself. I visited Lough Funshinagh on 12 April and have seen at first-hand the devastating impact the situation there is having for home owners and the community. The eight townlands that straddle Lough Funshinagh have lived in harmony with the lak…