I will come back to the Deputy. There has been a meeting between Galway County Council and ourselves. I do not know what stage it is at, but if the Deputy bears with me, I will come back to him in due course.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is a long night.
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I thank the Deputy for his kind words. The OPW does good work right across the region and particularly in his constituency, as he has outlined. I get asked to take over this castle or this monument every day of the week, and I do not have an endless pot to do that. Galway County Council has reached out to the OPW and meetings have taken place, but I cannot say what further engagements have taken place at this time, but I will come back to the Deputy in due course. His colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, has also raised this issue with me, as have other TDs in the constituency. I will continue to work with the Deputy. If we can work something out together, that is fine, but I cannot give him that commitment today.
Sentiment score: 0.29
The Minister loved to get that in.
Sentiment score: 0.60
The Office of Public Works, OPW, and Galway County Council are working together on the development of the south Galway, Gort lowlands, flood relief scheme with Galway County Council acting as the lead authority. Gort lowlands catchment is a karst landscape with a combination of underground water, river water, groundwater, swallow holes and turloughs. It is unique at an international level from an ecological perspective. Due to the complex nature of the area, Trinity College Dublin and Geological Survey Ireland have been contributing to the development of the scheme's design. They are working alongside the engineering and environmental consultants who were procured to develop a viable scheme design. There has been a significant amount of public and stakeholder consultation for the scheme and Galway County Council and the OPW are presenting the emerging preferred option. The scheme, when completed, is expected to provide protection to 115 properties: 50 residential and 65 commercial. Environmental assessments are currently being undertaken for the preferred option, which involves an integrated mechanism to effectively move water through overflow channels across the turloughs in this area. The specific nature of these assessments are being informed by discussions with the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. The timeframe for the consent submission depends on the ongoing environmental survey results and the outcome of the NPWS engagement. Should planning for the scheme be granted, Galway County Council and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, will re-engage on the matter of culvert capacity, which came to light while the M18 motorway was under construction.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I understand the Deputy's frustration and that of the people in the Gort lowlands. This is a very complex scheme. It is one of the most complex we have in the country. When we talk about swallow holes, turloughs and underground water, it is very complex. That is why we have the experts in the field working on this. Like the Deputy and everyone else, I get frustrated but I understand when I meet the consultants and officials in my Department that the delays are necessary. We get one chance to get a scheme right and this is one of them. While there is frustration about delays in the scheme, I assure the Deputy that I have put my full resources into trying to deliver this scheme. I have also given the local authorities funding for an executive engineer to drive these schemes on. It is not always the case that the OPW is delaying it; we are not. We are working collectively with Galway County Council in this case and with the people. We have had a number of consultations and I will continue to engage with the Deputy and others. I have been invited down to a meeting there shortly. Like the Deputy, I want to be able to deliver good, positive messages to the people.
Sentiment score: 0.05
This is a complex scheme but as the Deputy is aware, I made changes to the minor works scheme to allow local authorities to look at measures to facilitate them and the funding is there in that regard. That could be looked at. I make the point to the Deputy that we are so advanced on the scheme and it is so complex - I agree with the Deputy on that - that we have to allow the experts on the ground to deliver on these schemes. I would love to rush it through. I would love to say that to the Deputy but I cannot. I have been down there and have witnessed first-hand what has happened in that part of the country but it is no different to what is happening all over the country. People say we are taking too long but we have one chance to get it right. It is frustrating given the length of time it is taking but I assure the Deputy that my Department and I are working with the experts to deliver on this scheme. It is something we want to see ourselves.
Sentiment score: 0.27