Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 November 2017
285. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the applications for storm relief funding that have been submitted by Cork County Council and Cork City Council; and the engagement that has taken place between officials in his Department and officials from both councils. [47468/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department was in regular contact with Cork County Council and Cork City Council in the run up to Storm Ophelia which impacted the country on 16 October. As the track and intensity of the storm became more certain my Department wrote to Cork County Council and to Cork City Council as well as all other local authorities on 13 October advising that the Department intended to convene a National Emergency Co-ordination Group (NECG) and recommending that local authorities activate their local emergency co-ordination structures in advance of the weather system impacting the country.
As the storm approached the country on 16 October, the counties of the southwest, including Cork, were the first to be impacted. The NECG was in regular communication with the Cork local authorities during this time and information supplied by those authorities on the effects and severity of the storm were relayed to other local authorities and helped them to plan and focus their response. On 17 October a tele-conference was conducted between Cork County Council and the NECG to review the impact of the storm.
My Department has written to all local authorities, including the Cork local authorities, inviting them to submit claims for recoupment of response and clean-up costs that were incurred by them in dealing with the storm. We await claims for recoupment from the local authorities, including the Cork local authorities, in due course.
Funding for repair of any public infrastructure damaged by the storm is arranged directly between the relevant funding Department and the local authorities. I understand that, in contrast with other severe weather events, the overall damage to public infrastructure arising from the storm was limited.
