Weather Events

3. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the assessment that has been conducted of the resilience of Ireland's critical infrastructure to severe weather events and storms; and whether additional investment in grid resilience is planned. [78103/26]

I want to ask the Minister what assessment or planning is being done about the resilience of Ireland's critical infrastructure to severe weather events. Is he going to put any additional investment into grid resilience? Every time a storm hits the country, we are told that it is unprecedented and are promised lessons will be learned, but the next storm arrives and we discover once again that critical infrastructure remains dangerously exposed. I am talking about flooding. I will mention the Ballyheige salt-water intrusion as well, even though technically it is not under the Minister's brief. What is the Government doing to prepare into the future for these extreme weather events, which will recur?

The resilience of critical energy infrastructure to severe weather events and storms has been extensively assessed through national risk assessments, sectoral adaptation planning, electricity sector preparedness reviews and post-event analysis from Storm Éowyn. At a Cabinet subcommittee with the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, myself and others, we just discussed this again in the last couple of weeks. The assessments identified severe weather, flooding, vegetation and forestry-related risks as key challenges for the electricity network, and have informed both significant resilience investment and a range of operational and legislative measures. Additional investment is planned and is under way. Price review 6, the €18.9 billion we are going to invest in our electricity grid between now and 2030, includes €990 million specifically targeted at resilience and climate adaptation measures. Since Storm Éowyn, ESB Networks has delivered a significant programme of resilience and vegetation management measures aimed at reducing the risk and impact of future storm-related outages, including €74.5 million invested through the ESB Networks winter resilience plan; 25,000 km of hedgerows inspected and maintained; 3,782 km of electricity infrastructure in forestry areas assessed; more than 1,800 forestry owners engaged; 12,000 vulnerable trees attended to; 36 km of high-priority forestry corridors cleared already; and six specialist harvesting machines deployed to support forestry corridor and resilience work. The programme is continuing into 2027, with plans for a further 55 km of forestry corridor works and interventions on an additional 12,000 to 14,000 high-risk hedgerow trees. The assessments undertaken include Ireland's national climate change risk assessment, the Government's sectoral adaptation plans, including electricity and gas sector adaptation plans and crews' sector risk preparedness to 2029, which assesses 25 crisis scenarios, including storms, flooding and extreme weather.

It is not just me or any of the Opposition parties saying it. The recent assessment from the Climate Change Advisory Council states that Ireland's climate resilience planning does not match the scale or urgency of the risks that the country now faces, the storms, the flooding and the extreme weather. I am interested in what the Minister said about vegetation and forestry. I have no doubt that in the flooding that occurred in Listowel prior to the last general election, there was a direct impact from forestry upstream, the canals that were flowing from the forestry, and the surge of water that came down and flooded two parts of the town. The report that came as a result of that did not mention the impact on forestry at all. Can the Minister be more specific about whether that area upstream in the River Feale has been identified, or about water surges in general, in areas that may formerly have been bog and would have held on to the water much better? The CCAC also said that 31 of the 54 major relief schemes are stuck at preliminary design stage.

Flood relief schemes are really important and form part of the Critical Infrastructure Act. We just need to deliver them and we are. We have seen where flood relief schemes have been put in place. Many of them, by the way, were objected to for a long time by various groups and individuals, but they actually make a massive difference. Getting back to the Deputy's question, I have outlined specifically what we have done already. Another significant piece of work relates to the legislation. The ESB (amendment) Bill 2026 got approval of the draft heads and we are carrying out priority drafting. That is to ensure there are no grey areas about access to land. The Deputy might give me the details about that specific river and catchment area and I will certainly check that for him. We have 11.6% of our country under forest. We have a reforestation programme which we want to continue to advance. We have targets for additional tree planting that we want to meet. It is critically important, though, that those who own the forests maintain them properly. The ESB is not going to be able to do everything after every single storm event, nor should it. We have private investors and pension funds that own forests, those type of things, and indeed farmers. They need to maintain it. It needs to be part of the maintenance licence. That has formed part of my detailed discussions with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. When that Bill is drafted - I have got approval at Cabinet for it and it will go to committee as well - we will welcome the Deputy's input. It also will deal with maintenance of existing forestry and new forest planted, as to what the responsibility of the owner is.

In an awful lot of forestry, and particularly upstream in the River Feale, there is vertical drainage from the forestry. The bog that used to soak it up and leave the water out gradually out over a ten-day period is now barrelling the rainwater, if it is heavy, down into the river and gouging out the banks. The consequence is flooding in the town. I also want to talk about coastal communities, specifically the Ballyheige salt-water intrusion. The Minister responsible – I know it is not the Minister, Deputy O’Brien – has not visited the area at all. Uisce Éireann has not had a direct meeting with the 3,500 or 3,600 households involved. We are talking about some 7,000 people on a do-not-consume notice for over one month now with no real end in sight. There are proposals about planning but the amazing thing is that the Glenderry sandstone water source was closed during the summer and has not been reopened yet to provide clear water for the people. Why has that not happened?

It does not fall directly under my remit but I had extensive engagement with Uisce Éireann in my previous portfolio with responsibility for this area. I watched the report on RTÉ about the situation at Ballyheige. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne, is well aware of it and is engaged with Uisce Éireann in this regard. It is my understanding, from watching the report and from the Fianna Fáil councillor in the area who was interviewed in that report, that there is engagement with Uisce Éireann. If that is not the case, I will follow up on that. There is engagement, but there has also been a request for attendance at a public meeting. That is quite recent. I will follow that up with the Minister, Deputy Browne, after this session in the Chamber. On winter preparedness and preparedness for storms, resilience is critical for our grid network. The most important resilience project on the books is the North-South interconnector. That is why we need to start the project early next year. It needs to be done without further delay. That in itself will provide significant resilience to our electricity network.