Peadar Tóibín
Question:85. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the amount spent on flood defence systems in each of the past ten years. [5302/24]
View answerThursday, 8 February 2024
Questions (85)
Oral answers (8 contributions)
One of the great weaknesses of this Government has been its inability to deliver infrastructural projects. There are numerous infrastructural projects in this country that are well over time and well over budget. Flood defences are an example of this. Flood defences in Midleton, County Cork, were discussed and promised as far back as 2017 but despite the devastating floods that have happened there in recent times, the date for planning permission for Cork County Council has not even been decided. Worse than that, the Government cannot even give a date for the interim measures to address the flooding there. When will the Government be able to confirm these important plans?
This question refers to the amount spent on flood defence schemes in each of the past ten years. That is the question I propose to answer.
The Office of Public Works, OPW, as the lead agency for flood risk management, is co-ordinating the delivery of measures towards meeting the Government's national flood risk policy. 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 flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme. The CFRAM programme studied 80% of Ireland's primary flood risk and identified solutions that can protect over 95% of that risk. Some 150 additional flood relief schemes were identified through the programme.
The Government has committed a budget of €1.3 billion to the delivery of these schemes over the lifetime of the national development plan, NDP, to 2030 to protect approximately 23,000 properties in communities that are currently under threat from river and coastal flood risk. Since 2018, a phased approach to scheme delivery, in partnership with local authorities, has allowed the OPW to treble the number of schemes at design or construction stages at this time to some 100 schemes. As well as a financial commitment to meet costs, progressing this significantly increased number of flood relief schemes requires capacity and capability in highly specialised areas of engineering such as hydrology. Expenditure in the earlier stages of a project, that is, scoping, scheme development and preliminary design, planning process, and detailed design, represents a small proportion of the overall budget of a flood relief scheme. Schemes at construction, or stage 4 of the project, incur the greatest level of expenditure. There is no legislative or regulatory means of fast-tracking schemes to that stage.
Since 2014, €544 million has been invested in flood relief measures by the Office of Public Works. The breakdown, as requested by the Deputy, is as follows: €43.5 million in 2014; €48.3 million in 2015; €51.8 million in 2016; €45.3 million in 2017; €64.6 million in 2018; €58.2 million in 2019; €63.2 million in 2020; €55.6 million in 2021; €54.6 million in 2022; and €59.2 million in 2023.
If we could use studies, reports and commitments to stop water coming into houses, we would be well set because the Government has plenty of them. However, we are not seeing the jobs being started to fix the flood defences around the country. When I ask the Minister of State about these flood defences, he can give loads of excuses. The Minister of State is actually fluent in excuses. If excuses were a language, he would be able to teach it to people. The truth of the matter is we need more than excuses in terms of helping people.
I offer one example of a person whose home was inundated in the Storm Babet flood. She did her best to help her neighbours but they realised the deluge was so big that there was no way they would save anything. They got out of their houses with the water up to their chests. Since then, they have been practically living on the second floor of their homes. They cannot get access to the bottom floor because they do not have the money from the State to enable them to do the work there. All the while, they are facing into the prospect of years more of floods in Midleton. These families need to know when the Government is going to fix the flood defences.
There is a substantive question on Midleton on the Order Paper that I will address presently. What the Deputy said about jobs not being started is not true and he should correct the record of the Dáil. Up to five major schemes are expected to commence construction in 2024. Yesterday, I was in my native city of Limerick giving consent to Limerick City and County Council to proceed to tender on the King's Island flood relief scheme, which will protect 528 properties. It is a long-awaited scheme. The scheme for Morrison's Island in Cork city, which has been devastated on many occasions, has gone to tender and will protect more than 410 properties.
In tandem with that, through the local authorities and directly with the Office of Public Works, construction is continuing on projects that are being delivered using a lot of outside workers, including engineers, labourers and craftspeople. In Glashaboy, 103 properties will be protected, the Morell river scheme in County Kildare will protect 30 properties, and 52 properties will be protected under the Whitechurch scheme. Substantial completion of several other schemes will be achieved this year, including 534 properties in Athlone, a town that was inundated with flooding for donkey's years, 109 properties in Templemore and the Springfield flood relief scheme in Cloonlara, County Clare.
One of the major problems the people of Midleton have in terms of the flooding is that when it happened, they had politicians arrive at the location, some of them wearing boots and topcoats, offering tea and sympathy and guaranteeing there would be speedy help. One of the promises was that humanitarian assistance would be given. However, many of those families still cannot obtain humanitarian assistance for the situation they are in. It is an incredible situation. There is confusion over how the humanitarian assistance is to be calculated. When people put in estimates for the work, they are told they will be paid half the amount of the estimate. If they have insurance, that pushes against the humanitarian aid they will receive. People are living with PTSD given the experiences they had during the floods in Midleton. They are crying out for help. The best way the Government can help would be to speed up the humanitarian assistance, give a date for the interim works and give a date for the delivery of the planning application.
As I said, I propose to answer a substantive question on Midleton later. The Deputy raised this issue at the Estimates meeting last week. I asked whether he, as the leader of his party, had any engagement with Cork County Council. I think his answer was "No". If he had such engagement, he would know his assertion here is totally unfair, particularly to the engineering staff of Cork County Council and to my own engineering staff, who are committed to working on a scheme. I know the Deputy is trying to create a narrative that we can somehow magic away the issues that are there in regard to planning permission, design, consent and compulsory purchase orders, CPOs.
I was not talking about the staff.
I did not interrupt the Deputy. He knows and I know that this is a completely false narrative and is grossly unfair to the people working on the project.
Regarding the humanitarian assistance programme, I thank the Ministers, Deputies Coveney and Humphreys, for responding so positively, not only in Midleton but in Louth as well. I presume the Deputy raised this matter five minutes ago with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, who is the Minister dealing with it.