I ask the Minister to outline Government policy regarding the dredging of rivers and waterways and the upkeep of riverbanks in light of the recent flooding, especially in Midleton and Castlemartyr in east Cork. What State agency, if any, is responsible for this and is there any plan to establish a national waterways agency to look after this kind of thing?

There are two different issues here. One is the short-term response to what we learned from what happened recently in Midleton and east Cork in terms of flooding. Cork County Council is doing a pretty detailed piece of work on what it can do in the short term to reduce the risk of flooding in east Cork in the future including clearing rivers, making sure that appropriate dredging is taking place and so on, so that water flows into the harbour more efficiently. The second is the more fundamental look at our waterways more generally, which is the responsibility of Waterways Ireland and the OPW and both need to take place. In the short term people in Midleton need to know that Cork County Council is acting in areas where it can to try to reduce risk until we put a much more comprehensive flood protection scheme in place for the town. Hopefully that will go to planning in the first half of next year.