It is increasingly baffling how utterly in limbo many east Cork residents are left over two years on from Storm Babet. I want to acknowledge the recent planning approval for a scheme that will protect Tir Cluain estate and some nearby properties in Midleton. I am conscious that the Midleton flood relief scheme is large-scale and very complex and is slowed down by the degree of engagement with landowners that it requires. As much as it should have been completed many years ago, we cannot turn the clock back on that political failure - we are where we are now – but what is really perplexing is the degree of detachment of the Minister of State’s Department from the villages that were also flooded in October 2023, namely, Mogeely, Rathcormac, Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Ladysbridge and Whitegate. There was a recent announcement that €108,000 was allocated to Whitegate but this was not for any actual flood works. It was to appoint a specialist to survey the possibility of flood works. How did it take almost two-and-a-half years since Storm Babet to make that appointment? In reply to parliamentary questions, the Minister of State has said there is a shortage of expertise in the country to help direct so-called tranche II projects. What I would like to know is how much efforts has the Minister of State engaged in to hire experts from abroad? All these villages remain in limbo and it is not acceptable. In August 2024 two experts were commissioned by Cork County Council to assess the potential for land use or nature-based solutions upstream from Midleton. We know these measures have been very successful in settlements such as Pickering in Yorkshire. Their survey did not extend to Mogeely but my understanding is that the experts viewed Mogeely as a potential area where natural flood defences could be deployed relatively quickly at low financial cost and without the need for planning permission. There was buy-in from the local landowner there and a substantial number of houses could have benefitted. The council has, for some unknown reason, kept the nature-based report under wraps since. I requested it last August and did not receive it. It was not even released to me following a freedom of information request in October last year. Nobody is suggesting nature-based solutions are a silver bullet but they are effective with more frequent low-intensity floods and they are an important part of the overall approach.

Sentiment score: 0.25

I want to ask the Minister of State why we are not maximising the potential for nature-based solutions along with engineering methods.

Sentiment score: 0.25