Ms Clare McGrath:

In 2004 and 2005 we changed from doing individual capital projects nationally to considering projects on flood risk catchment basis. We made a decision to move from being reactive and engineering hard solutions to asking how could we manage flood risk into the future, not just from solutions but from non-structural measures as well. The question then is how do we do this from looking at international practice. To determine how we would deal with flooding nationally, we would look to develop the process around doing pilot projects. We did not have complete knowledge as to what the process should be and we carried out the pilots to determine what might be involved. As part of the process, we were doing exercises on how we would determine costings. In respect of the pilots, one of the significant elements of the costings related to surveys. We had to carry out extensive surveys. We learned from that and it informed the pilots. I can talk on the impact of that learning on the national programme.

In regard to the figures, we were looking at them in the context of how one might estimate the cost of planning. That is not about going in and doing the job, it is about doing surveys and modelling. We were ultimately going to do it for 6,700 km of channel. Our figures were based on the best information we had at that time, but our learning from the pilots informed our decision such that we had to change our timelines and estimates. The purpose of the pilots was to inform our decision to change.