I want the Government to give a commitment that the OPW will continue its legal obligation to maintain the arterial drainage programme that is instrumental in protecting active farmland, communities and, importantly, people’s homes. We have seen in the submissions to public consultations on the river basin management plan that NGOs in this country which are armed with €5 billion of taxpayers’ money, such as the Sustainable Water network, SWAN, which is made up of 25 environmentalist groups, such as An Taisce, Bat Conservation Ireland and others, want this programme discontinued and the lands rewetted, leaving homes and farms in danger. That is not scaremongering; it is a fact. That is what these groups want, such as in the Cashen river. Last week, an important meeting was held. Thousands of acres of farmland and up to 650 houses will be flooded and damaged. Active farmland and homes will be damaged if the Cashen river is not maintained. The OPW in Kerry does great work. All I ask is that the Taoiseach allows it to continue to do that work.

The river basin management plan is nearing completion and has had valuable input from SWAN and other NGOs through An Fórum Uisce. There is a broad stakeholder group inputting to the plan. The next iteration of the plan will deal with issues around free flowing rivers and flood attenuation, in terms of using natural nature-based solutions to that. It is important we look at this in the whole, looking at the scale of the challenges we face with our rivers, both in terms of water quality and increased risks of flooding due to climate change. It will be a comprehensive plan and will address many of the issues the Deputy is concerned about.