I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Before I call on the first speaker I wish to welcome to the Visitor's Gallery Mr. Bobby Nealon from Virginia and Scranton. I think that is Scranton, Pennsylvania, the home place of former US President Joe Biden. Mr. Nealon is father to Annie, who is working as an intern with Senator Duffy. The family has strong Ballina and Mayo connections. You are most welcome to Seanad Éireann, Bobby.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for choosing the Commencement matter today and I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for coming to the Chamber to deal with it, which I greatly appreciate. Today is such a lovely day. It is dry and the skies are blue and we would be forgiven for forgetting all about the really bad weather we had at the start of the year with all of the rain. There is something in us Irish that we tend to be positive and not to look back. However, it is really important that we set everything up and make plans for the potential risk of floods once again.

I want to talk particularly about Newbridge and what is happening there. During the recent floods we were not very badly affected but we were impacted. Four estates in particular were affected, namely, Raymonds Court, Roseberry Court, College Grove and Riverside Park, as well as the Liffey Linear Park, which nobody could use to walk. That park is a really special place in Newbridge for people who want to exercise and immerse themselves in nature but unfortunately it was closed during the floods. I want to give a shout out to the new area engineer in Newbridge, Mr. Carthac de Brí, who was absolutely excellent. Any time I contacted him on behalf of residents in terms of their fears, their need for sandbags and so on, he was absolutely on the ball. It gives great comfort when residents see that preparations are in place at council level.

In terms of the work that needs to be done by the Department, some work has already started on a number of schemes in Kildare. The scheme in Athy is nearly finished and in north Kildare a number of schemes are under way. While flood mapping published by the OPW confirms fluvial flood risk from the River Liffey, including from the Roseberry stream and the Great Connell stream, the biggest issue is actually the controlled discharge operations at Pollaphuca. These operations are managed by the ESB to regulate water levels. To be fair, I want to thank the ESB and its personnel who were at the end of the phone line any time that I contacted them during the flood period. A number of warnings were issued by the ESB about limited reservoir storage capacity during sustained rainfall, which could lead to increased downstream flood risk to both Newbridge and Clane if water had to be released. Newbridge was formally identified as being at risk of river flooding in national plans going back as far as 2018 so in that context, the planned works should be scheduled in the more immediate term. We have already waited eight years. Given the way climate change trends are going, there is also a need for improved monitoring. A number of councillors, including Councillor Robert Power and the mayor of Newbridge, Councillor Carmel Kelly, have called for electronic water level monitoring stations to be installed in Newbridge and Clane. The flood works are at development stage but are not yet at the construction phase.

When will we get a confirmed date for construction to commence?

I thank Senator O'Loughlin for raising this matter. I assure her that the OPW and Kildare County Council are committed to working in partnership to progress the flood relief measures. Throughout Kildare the OPW has completed four flood relief schemes which protect 110 properties against the risk of flooding. A further two flood relief schemes in Athy and Naas are at development and preliminary design stage. The Morell river flood management scheme is being progressed towards substantial completion. A further scheme in Leixlip to protect 60 properties is being led and progressed by the local authority, with funding provided by the OPW. Upon completion, these four schemes will give protection to 670 properties.

The OPW funds two engineering staff in Kildare County Council to support its delivery of the programme of schemes throughout the county. As it is not feasible to deliver all flood relief schemes concurrently due to constraints in specialised engineer skills in the OPW, local authorities and the consultancy market, the flood relief delivery programme was subdivided into two tranches, focusing initially on tranche one schemes and those already in the delivery pipeline. The prioritisation of the first tranche of the scheme was based on three criteria, including scale of projects, capacity to deliver a national programme and maximising the return on investment with reference to property numbers. Under the national programme, work has yet to commence on the design of 50 tranche two flood relief schemes. The flood relief scheme in Newbridge is part of the second tranche of flood relief schemes. It is anticipated this scheme will provide protection to up to 70 properties. The Government is committed to progressing these schemes under the national development plan.

The OPW is piloting a new delivery model of flood relief schemes through tranche two schemes in counties Kilkenny and Donegal. This is referred to as the tranche two pilot. The two tranche two pilot schemes in County Kilkenny are in Freshford and Piltown and in County Donegal they are in Donegal town and Letterkenny. The tranche two pilot is transferring the management of data gathering, as a first step in designing a scheme, from consultant engineers for a single scheme to the local authority for all schemes in the pilot. The pilot means that data gathering, where feasible, may be scaled up from individual communities to all schemes in a county. The pilot will then better inform the prioritisation of future schemes nationally and the scope of service required from consultants to design and facilitate the construction of flood relief schemes. The design of the schemes being delivered through this pilot is at an early stage of data collection to inform the appointment of engineering and environmental consultants.

Localised flooding issues are a matter in the first instance for each local authority to investigate and address. The minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme was introduced by the OPW in 2009. The purpose of the scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works or studies to address localised flooding and coastal erosion problems in their administrative area. This scheme generally applies where a solution can be readily identified and achieved in a short timeframe. Funding of up to 90% of the cost is available subject to criteria. Applications are assessed by the OPW having regard to the economic, technical, social and environmental criteria of the scheme, including a cost-benefit ratio.

Recently I announced an increase in funding supports to be made available to local authorities under the minor flood scheme, including an increase in the upper minor works threshold from €750,000 to €2 million. Details of these revisions to the scheme will be made available to local authorities shortly. Since 2009 the OPW has approved funding under the minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme of approximately €1.8 million to Kildare for seven projects.

Sula dtéim ar aghaidh, cuirim fáilte roimh na cuairteoirí atá sa Ghailearaí inniu, atá istigh leis an OPLA. Gabhaim buíochas leo as ucht teacht isteach.

I acknowledge the OPW is funding two engineering staff in Kildare County Council to support delivery throughout the county. I accept it is not feasible to deliver all flood relief schemes concurrently due to constraints in relation to personnel, etc. However, I was very clear that I was looking for a timeline for Newbridge and the Minister of State did not give me this in his response.

I ask him for that. I acknowledge he is saying the Government is committed to progressing the schemes under the NDP. I also mentioned the monitoring and that is really important in regard to giving real-time river levels and acknowledging that the long-term hydrological data help inform future flood risk management measures.

They are the two questions I am coming back to the Minister of State with. They are around the timeline for Newbridge - particularly for those estates and the walk along the Liffey Linear Park - and on the monitoring, which is hugely important and I know that all Kildare county councillors support me on that.

Sula dtéimid ar aghaidh, tá vóta tar éis a bheith glaoite sa Dáil. A vote has been called in the Dáil. It has just been called if the Minister of State wants to wrap this up for a minute.

We have a pairing arrangement.

The Minister of State has a pairing arrangement.

Yes, okay.

I thank Senator O'Loughlin. She has been on to me a lot in relation to the issues in Kildare and I appreciate the work she is doing to help with what I am trying to do. I did outline to her that the pilot scheme is there but I have also said that the minor works are a way forward. Interim and short-term measures play into the long-term solution. I have been doing this up and down the country. I appeal to the Senator again to go back to the local authorities, where interim works can be carried out to mitigate against flooding, particularly in the context of what we have seen with climate change and the areas the Senator mentioned. I appeal to her to go to the local authorities. I have met, I think, eight local authorities in the past two days and I have been pushing them in that direction. The long-term scheme, particularly the scheme the Senator is talking about, is down the track. It will not happen today or tomorrow. That scheme is made available to the local authorities. The change I have made to that scheme in going from €750,000 to €2 million is significant and that is for the local authorities.

I want to praise, as the Senator rightly said, the engineer and the local authorities. I have been working closely with every local authority, including Kildare. I met some of the team recently. It is not that I have not been aware of the issues there; I am quite clear on them. As regards the measures the Senator talked about, they will be looked at by me and Kildare County Council in the short term.

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate it.