Last week, during Private Members' business, I listened carefully to the views of colleagues. We discussed the Government’s work on managing flood risk and responding to recent events. I welcome another chance today to continue that discussion. Flooding has become more common and more damaging both here and abroad. We have all seen the distress it causes homeowners, businesses, landowners and entire communities. Other nearby countries have also suffered serious floods recently. I again acknowledge the hardship faced by everyone affected by the recent flooding. I have visited many of the impacted areas myself. I have spoken to residents and business owners and understand their fear and frustration. I assure them and the House that the Government is fully committed to reducing flood risk and supporting those who need help. I look forward to working with them to deliver real solutions for communities affected by flooding. Reducing flood risk requires action across many Government Departments. The interdepartmental flood policy co-ordination group leads this work. Flood policy is built on three main pillars. The first is prevention, which involves avoiding or removing flood risk such as by stopping construction in flood-prone areas. The Office of the Planning Regulator and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage play key roles in this. The second is protection, which involves reducing the likelihood or severity of floods. This includes major flood relief schemes and, where suitable, nature-based solutions. The third is preparedness, which involves helping people and communities prepare for and respond to floods. This includes public information, emergency actions and early warnings. The co-ordination group also works to raise awareness and to encourage people and businesses to protect themselves and their property. Recent supports include an emergency response payment from Department of Social Protection covering eight counties with 137 payments issued by 13 February 2026 and the enhanced emergency humanitarian flooding scheme from the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. Funding for the latter scheme increased from €20,000 to €100,000 with 53 applications received by 16 February 2026. In 2018, the OPW completed the State’s largest ever flood-risk study - the CFRAM programme. It covered 80% of the primary flood risk in Ireland and identified solutions to protect 95% of that risk. Key outputs include flood maps for 300 communities and 29 river basin flood risk management plans detailing suitable flood relief measures. These plans guide Government investment in flood protection, which includes around 150 flood relief schemes, protection for 23,000 homes and businesses and a Government commitment of €1.3 billion under the national development plan to 2030. When complete, 95% of properties assessed will have flood protection. Other measures will address remaining risks, including minor flood mitigation and coastal protection projects, individual property protection, the voluntary homeowners relocation scheme and enhanced forecasting and community resilience programmes. So far, the OPW has invested €580 million in 56 completed schemes, provided protection to 13,580 properties and delivered €2 billion in estimated avoided damages. Since 2018, the number of schemes at design, planning or construction stage has increased to 100 active schemes with ten schemes at construction, five schemes at detailed design, ten schemes at planning stage and 69 schemes in development or preliminary design. There are limits on available specialist engineering and environmental expertise. As a result, schemes are delivered in two tranches. A national pilot is under way to test a more efficient delivery model for tranche two schemes. Flood relief schemes take time because they require extensive surveys and environmental assessments as they must meet legal and EU requirements, they involve public consultation and judicial reviews can delay progress. Typical delivery time is about 11 years from start to finish. Other measures include minor flood mitigation works and the coastal protection scheme. Since 2009, the scheme has funded 900 projects, provided over €70 million in investment and reduced risk for 8,000 properties. In 2025, the funding limit increased from €750,000 to €2 million per project. Following Storm Chandra, I asked local authorities with major schemes under way to list all possible temporary measures to reduce risk while long-term solutions are being developed. I expect these plans shortly. The OPW maintains 11,500 km of river channels, 800 km of embankments, 260,000 ha of agricultural land and flood protection for 20,000 properties, 2,400 km of roads and 77 towns and villages I thank all those involved in flood preparations and response - local authorities, An Garda Síochána, the HSE, civil defence and many more. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage leads national co-ordination through the national emergency co-ordination group. Stage I of the national flood forecasting and warning service was completed in 2023. Met Éireann now provides daily flood guidance to local authorities and State agencies. Stage II is now under the Government task force on emergency planning. It will deliver more detailed and accurate forecasts and community flood warnings. Climate change will bring more storms and extreme weather and flood risk management must adapt accordingly. The OPW has published its climate change sectoral adaptation plan for 2025 to 2030. All new and ongoing flood schemes must now include a climate adaptation plan; nature-based solutions where feasible; an assessment of future sea-level rise scenarios, including rises up to 2 m; and consideration of tidal barriers for cities and major coastal areas. The OPW also supports planning authorities to ensure flood risk is properly considered in development decisions. I know many communities feel anxious as they wait for flood relief schemes to be delivered. I assure the House the Government is doing everything possible to progress this work quickly and effectively. I remain open to all ideas that can speed up delivery or further reduce flood risk. I thank Members for their attention and look forward to the debate.

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Yes.

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I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. One theme emerged, namely, all of us working together. It is vitally important that we do not play politics because for the past number of weeks and years gone by, we have all seen the devastation flooding has caused families. While we talk about the water receding, people are trying to get their lives back together. The very thought of rainfall tonight brings back the fear that it may flood again. There has been a lot of talk about what has happened. We launched CFRAM in 2018. When we think of times before then, there was very little money in the country to deal with flooding because we went through recessions and all sorts of problems but we dealt with them. We adopted the CFRAM strategy in 2018. I said at the time that it would be the bible going forward in terms of flooding where we could see the areas that were badly affected and the areas that needed protection the most based on population. What we have seen is climate change. We have seen a severe change that is happening around the world. When I adopted those plans, I travelled the length and breadth of the country meeting local authorities. We achieved that and then had to look for the money. There is not a county where I could not tell Deputies how much of the €1.3 billion that is ring-fenced for flood prevention will be ring-fenced for that county. What changes have we brought forward after my return to Dáil Éireann? When I look at areas from Louth to Enniscorthy that have seen so much flooding over the past number of weeks, I see at first hand what interim measures can do. I know that we worked tirelessly to protect the town of Athlone and, thankfully, the flood defences are there and people see the reward. I have expanded the arrangement involving five local authorities to eight. They are coming to meet me on 2 March. I will work with them to look at interim measures while we deliver the long-term solutions. We have also provided local authorities with staff to drive the delivery of these changes. We have made changes to the minor works scheme increasing funding from €750,000 to €2 million. People talk about blockages in rivers. For the first time, I provided a budget and I will appeal to local authorities to deliver on it. Long before what has happened in the past few weeks, I visited Kerry, Clontarf, Portrane and Strandhill in County Sligo. Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned Lough Funshinagh, which is close to my home. We brought in interim measures in the space of three months to deliver protection for those communities. There is a lot that has to be taken into account. Members come in here and say we should do this and that and reverse the matter concerning the pearl mussel. We will not do that. We build 56 schemes by working with the land and all the bodies. That is how we do it. We do not say it is a matter of one thing versus another for political reasons. That is wrong. My job is as Minister of State and the job of my Department and the Government is to work together with elected representatives and local authorities to deliver schemes. We have a plan. Deputy Fitzmaurice said that for once, we have the money. My job is to work with local authorities to deliver on these interim measures while we wait for long-term defences to be put in place for communities because people have suffered greatly and I do not like what has happened no more than anyone else in the House. We were lucky the two recent big events happened at night. If they had happened during the day, we could have been looking at something totally different. A 90-year-old woman in Dublin was taken out of her house in a brown bin to get her away from the floods. A man over 90 in Enniscorthy was taken out in a boat. Any human being would want to do more but despite what Members might say in the House, there are planning constraints and we have to deal with them and work together. I will bring in changes over the next number of weeks. The purchasing of equipment required to support local authorities was mentioned. This is happening. We are looking at ways of shortening the timeframe for delivering schemes. This is us working together with the local authorities. Members on the different sides of the House come in and say that the OPW is not doing enough. I need every single Member to go to their local authorities and talk to its staff about the schemes and get to know what is involved in a scheme. They should even visit places where we have done these big projects because the one thing that people forget is that 95% of the wall, glass or embankment that we see finished is underground and sometimes under the water. That, in itself, tells us the engineering and everything else that is involved to get it that level. We all talk about Enniscorthy and the way it was affected. In my county of Westmeath, I am thankful that the council's CEO Barry Kehoe acted efficiently with the local authorities working together to deliver the AquaDams. I heard people on the radio say that they did not what an AquaDam was. This is not about me. It is about us all coming together to deliver for these communities. There is a lot more we can do. I hope to host the first flooding conference where I will bring local authorities from around the country together and we can talk to them, look at solutions and drive on. Together we can make it happen. We have to stop fighting and blaming nature. We have to deal with nature and we have to deal with what is coming upon us. While we sit here and stand here, we also have to recognise the resilience shown by communities over the past 20 days. I spoke to some of the farmers who came out with slurry tanks to soak water off roads or pulled cars off roads. People in corner shops that were affected still went down to the road to help their neighbour next door. That speaks volumes. People want help and they want answers. The Government has not been found wanting for support for people through funding for the Red Cross and the other business fund that is available. I have met the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste on a great number of occasions to discuss other ways we can fast-track the delivery of flood defences for people. We talk about it being critical infrastructure and it is, but the critical infrastructure Bill will not fix everything, but it will help. The arterial drainage (amendment) Bill is ready to go into the House. That will halve the time in the planning process. When we put stuff into Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, or DPER as well call it, it could be two years there. We have now seen An Coimisiún Pleanála turn around schemes in six, eight and nine months. That is very positive, but it will not do everything. We will still need to put them into DPER, which will continue to deliver with the local authorities. The moneys I announced for the minor works scheme and channel cleaning is a bible to help local authorities up and down the country going forward. I will work with every Member. My door is open. If they have suggestions, do not be afraid to come to me. People say that when there is a crisis, we come in here and talk about. I am not going away from this issue. I am a hands-on Minister of State and I bring energy. We have 100 schemes at different stages. One critical part of that is we were spending €74 million a year. On my return back to this House last year, €102 million was spent on flood defences. That will tell Members the energy that my Department, the Government and I bring to this issue. This Government wants to successfully deliver the flood schemes for the people up and own this country. Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

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