I am glad to have the opportunity to raise the matter of the clearing of the Flesk river in the parish of Killarney. The river needs to be cleaned from Gortahoosh bridge through Curreal and Glenflesk village up as far as Loo Bridge against Clonkeen. This stretch of the river is almost totally blocked with trees, silt and gravel which in the past nine or ten years has caused many houses in the catchment area to be flooded several times. Up to 35 homes in the area of Glenflesk are under threat or affected in one way or another. The houses have been flooded or people cannot get into them. In the last couple of days one eye of the bridge at Glenflesk has been blocked by a fallen tree. There have been many deputations led by me to the area committee meeting in Killarney and they have been supported by all of the area councillors. My daughter Maura led a deputation last May, a meeting I also attended and at which I was a spokesperson. People are very agitated and upset that the river has not been cleared. In the early 1980s Jackie Healy-Rae brought locals in a deputation to meet Charles Haughey at the Gleneagle Hotel and the river was cleared at the time. There were few problems for 25 or 27 years, up until nine or ten years ago.

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, for coming to County Kerry last year when he saw for himself the problems in Glenflesk and other places in the county. He gave an assurance to the elected Members in the Chamber that he would provide funding once Kerry County Council had made an application for it. Last April the council applied for funding to clear half of the river. That is why we had to have a second deputation to get agreement that the other half of the river would also be cleared. A total of €168,000 is needed to clear the river from Gortahoosh Bridge to Curreal Bridge. Rivers - the Flesk is no different - need to be cleared and maintained all of the time. However, in the past 20 years landowners have not been able to touch any river because if they do, they will lose their farm payments. This rule of cross-compliance has to be adhered to. That is why the river is so bad again and affecting so many. Houses cannot be lifted, but roads can. The N22 was raised because it was being flooded. However, even though it has already been raised by 10 ft, it is still being flooded to a height of 3 ft. The river needs to be cleared. That is what we are asking the Government to do. There is a need for ambulances to be able access hospitals and people to access everything else.

In some ways, this is an example of a bigger issue and challenge we face nationally. We are seeing more extreme weather cycles. Undoubtedly, climate change is happening. Not only do we need to do more to mitigate its effects, we also need to spend very large sums of money to adapt to more dramatic weather cycles, including for flood relief measures.

We need to ensure that rivers large and small have the capacity to move much larger volumes of water in flooding instances. Having said that, before this can happen a process, involving environmental impact assessments if necessary, needs to be followed. Many local authorities have put in place regional flood strategies. I am glad that the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, working I am sure with the Minister of State, Deputy Griffin, has looked at the challenges of flooding and river basin management plans for County Kerry.

I do not think the Deputy could seriously expect me to confirm funding for an individual project that requires an application, probably from the local authority. The Minister of State, Deputy Moran, has a very considerable sum of money to spend in coming years on flood mitigation. It is about €400 million from memory, which is a significant allocation to deal with the increased flooding risk, particularly in the Shannon basin but also in other parts of the country, including in the south west where the Deputy lives and where rivers need to be managed in a way that allows them to deal with flash flooding and more extreme weather cycles. I suggest that the local authority should work with the OPW and the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, who is somewhat of a flood expert, to ensure this project gets the priority it needs.

We are looking for no more than the people in Kerry deserve. We have gone down all the routes and all the surveys have been done by CFRAM. It was going on for six or seven years. There was agreement between Kerry County Council and the OPW to make an application under what was known as the minor flood mitigation scheme. That has been done. There are two applications with the OPW, one for €98,000 and the other for €71,000. I am asking the Tánaiste to ensure the local authority gets this funding to clear out the river.

I am doing nothing out of the way in asking the Tánaiste because we are fully entitled to get funding to clear this stretch of the river to ensure that people's houses will not be flooded and that the roads to those houses will not be flooded. The last trip Paddy Healy had from his house was on a boat and he died in hospital subsequently. I pass that place every day. I ask the Tánaiste to ensure that-----

I thank the Deputy.

-----these people are not left behind. The application has been made; it took a long time to get it in. That is what I am asking.

I thank the Deputy. He can get an answer now.

I ask the Tánaiste to talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, and fast-track this funding so that the people will not be affected again as they were in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

I thank the Deputy.

There were six floods and no one could get in or out of their houses. Ambulances could not pass up or down the main road to Cork.

The Deputy has made his point.

That is what I am asking the Tánaiste.

As I said, in order to access funding for projects a process needs to be followed.

The process is there.

With respect, we do not bypass the process because the Deputy raises it here in the Dáil. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, is considering this application. As I said, he understands flooding and is doing an excellent job in understanding local complexities and investing in flood management systems. One of those investments is to ensure rivers flow and are not blocked unnecessarily and that river basins are, if necessary, altered appropriately. We also need to ensure that the environmental responsibilities we have towards river basin management is followed. This does not sound like a huge amount of money to me, but the process needs to be followed. The local authority needs to engage with the OPW's flood experts to progress this project and I am sure it will.