To ask the Minister for Infrastructure when the funding for Phase 3 of the Review of South East Flooding will be made available.

The recently published review of the South East Flooding in Autumn 2023 detailed a number of recommendations for which my Department, and many other multi-agency partners, will be responsible for delivering.

Although my Department is not the lead agency for the delivery of all the recommendations from the review, I am content for my Department to take the lead in the coordination and oversight of the implementation of all recommendations through the establishment of a Flooding Review Recommendations Group. The first meeting of this group took place in late November 2024 with the January 2025 meeting deferred due to many participants involved with the recovery phase of Storm Eowyn. The focus at this initial stage is to develop and agree an Action Plan outlining responsibilities and associated timescales needed to meet each recommendation with the anticipation that all recommendations will be addressed within 24 months. Therefore, the budget to take forward agreed actions, either assigned to my Department or those of other stakeholders, have yet to be determined.