I wish to share time with Deputy Sheehan.
Adjournment Debate. - Flood Relief Works.
I am sure that is in order and agreed.
I bring to the notice of the House the urgent matter of regular flooding in Dunmanway, County Cork. Dunmanway is a beautiful town and was so designated when it won the Tidy Towns competition a few years ago. However, its citizens live in fear and trepidation every time there is a heavy shower of rain. When there is heavy rainfall the houses of Dunmanway and their contents are ruined and citizens must use sand bags to protect them. The relevant Minister should have regard for the fear in which those people live. As the local authority submitted a proposal about this problem to the Office of Public Works a few years ago, it is appalling that the relevant department has not carried out the necessary works. I understand it would cost approximately £500,000. We are told the buoyant economy will lift all boats. If there are any spare boats around, the unfortunate residents of Dunmanway will need them because of the serious flooding in the area.
I hope the Minister gives a positive reply to the effect that the work will be carried out immediately. With modern farming practices, when drainage takes place up river it causes flash floods and other serious problems for citizens of our towns. The Minister should not vacillate or procrastinate any longer because the citizens of Dunmanway are losing patience.
I thank Deputy Walsh for giving me an opportunity to speak on this important matter. The saga of the Dunmanway flooding has been going on for many years. Representations have been made to several Governments to get the necessary finance to alleviate the problem.
Dunmanway is an old historic town and is proud of its environs. The citizens of the Long Bridge area have lived in fear for the past ten years because of a constant threat of their property being flooded. It is time common sense prevailed. I hope the Minister looks favourably on this request and grants the necessary finance to enable works to commence immediately. The fears of the citizens of Dunmanway must be allayed. I want an assurance from the Minister that the necessary works will be carried out immediately.
Following the passing of the Arterial Drainage (Amendment) Act, 1995, which I introduced when I was Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, a list of some nine areas which suffer periodical localised flooding was drawn up for priority consideration for drainage schemes. The flooding of Dunmanway was among those first nine areas and the Commissioners of Public Works have been involved since then in the investigation of the causes of the flooding problems in Dunmanway and devising a means of alleviating the problems encountered.
One of the criteria for selecting areas for inclusion on the first priority list was that the commissioners had previous knowledge of flooding in an area and had information to deal with the matter. The flooding in Dunmanway was well known to the commissioners as they had undertaken an investigation of the problem and prepared a report on the matter on behalf of Cork County Council in 1990-1. However, owing to the demands on their available staffing resources in 1995 the commissioners appointed a firm of consulting engineers to undertake the necessary investigations and to prepare a preliminary report outlining a range of options for dealing with the problem and making recommendations on the one most favoured.
The incorporation of the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989 into law amended the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945 to make it a legal requirement for the carrying out of a detailed environmental impact statement for each drainage scheme and for the report to form part of the statutory scheme documentation.
The 1995 Act also includes this requirement and hence the investigation of flooding problems and the preparation of drainage and flood alleviation proposals for the Dunmanway schemes required that a detailed assessment of the existing environmental conditions in the area had to be established in the first instance. This effectively meant that pure engineering proposals could not be finalised until their impact on the existing environment was determined. As the assessment of existing conditions normally requires at least a full annual cycle, the progress of scheme designs and options were slower than originally envisaged.
The presence of major areas of environmental and ecological interest in the Bandon Valley immediately downstream of the Long Bridge in Dunmanway, the discovery of protected species and habitats in the area in question and the recognition of the Bandon river as an important salmonoid river limited the engineering possibilities available. Notwithstanding this, the commissioners are advancing proposals which primarily involve the construction of embankments and back drain systems upstream and downstream of the Long Bridge, with the mobilisation of three additional arches in the bridge and associated excavations.
Because of the competing demands on available Exchequer resources and the public capital programme, capital investment projects such as localised drainage-flood relief schemes are required to undergo assessment to prove their economic merits. Accordingly, a cost-benefit analysis of the Dunmanway scheme proposals needed to be carried out before they could be passed beyond the preparatory stage. I am happy to say that such an assessment has now been undertaken which shows a positive return for the proposed works. A design for this scheme is well advanced and preparation of scheme documentation is nearing completion with a view to bringing the scheme to public exhibition stage early in the new year and getting to works stage in April 1997.
The statutory public exhibition of the scheme documentation will provide opportunities for all interested parties to comment on the scheme proposals and to submit such observations to the Commissioners for their consideration. The Commissioners are required to consider these observations and, where practicable, to have regard to them in the scheme design, after which the scheme must be submitted to the Minister for Finance for statutory confirmation.
Works on the Bandon River, Dunmanway, drainage scheme will commence when all the statutory and other procedures have been complied with and the necessary funds for works will be met from the Vote for the Office of Public Works.