Mr. Simon Harris, TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works, today (7 August 2014) outlined the position regarding Government funding for storm damage repairs for Clare County Council and in particular recent reports about Cloughaninchy in County Clare.

Speaking today, Minister Harris said "I note with concern that recent reports suggest that funding to carry out repairs following the devastating storms in early 2014 has not been allocated and that my Office has not been in contact with the local authorities concerned to outline the assistance available to them.  The position is clear:following the storms the Government allocated a total of up to €16.8m for storm damage repairs to Clare County Council of which up to €8.276m is for repairs to damaged public coastal protection infrastructure.  The balance of this amount is allocated for repairs to other public infrastructure such as piers, harbours and roads.  A programme of works for the expenditure of the €8.276m has been agreed with Clare County Council and I now expect the Council to progress with this programme of works as a matter of urgency.  It was made clear to all local authorities that this funding was being made available for repair and not for the construction of entirely new coastal protection works, such as those being proposed at Cloughaninchy.  In any event, the submission received from the Council in relation to Cloughaninchy was only at a summary level and could not be regarded as satisfying the standards required for the investment of substantial public funds in a scheme of major capital works."

Minister Harris commented "My Office has an excellent working relationship with local authorities and continues to liaise with them on all the various schemes administered by this Office.  There has been numerous exchanges of correspondence with the local authorities, including Clare County Council, in relation to the storm damage funding.  It is important to point out that decisions on major capital works schemes, such as those proposed for Cloughaninchy, require the necessary planning and feasibility studies to be carried out by the Council to ensure all options are fully assessed and considered and to facilitate the allocation of scarce public resources on a priority basis nationally. I am pleased to confirm that in order to progress matters, officials from my Office are meeting their counterparts in Clare County Council today (Thursday 7 August) with a view to discussing matters further and on foot of this meeting, I will meet with local residents in early September."

Minister Harris concluded "Decisions to progress with any major capital works require careful planning and full assessment and I know that my Office will continue to work with Clare County Council to ensure the best possible outcome."

ENDS:

For further information please contact Colette Davis, OPW Press Officer at 046 942 6128 or 087 947 5552 or e-mail opwpressoffice@opw.ie

Notes to Editors:

Storm Damage - Following the severe weather events at the end 2013/early 2014, the OPW (on foot of Government decision)  has allocated funding of €19.6m to local authorities for programmes of works to repair damaged coastal protection and flood defence infrastructure.   This was co-ordinated by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government - full details of each allocation are in the table below.
 

INDICATIVE COSTS ARISING FOR STATE FROM SEVERE WEATHER 13 DECEMBER 2013 to 6 JANUARY 2014 BASED ON ESTIMATES BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES