Mr. Mark Adamson:

We have been looking into this type of measure. There are pilot projects and research which demonstrate that, for small floods in catchments where pilots have been undertaken, this approach can be quite effective in reducing flood peaks. Unfortunately, equally there is research which indicates that the benefits of this type of measure for large events, such as the 100 year flood or the 1% annual exceedance probability flood, reduces because the catchment is saturated already. That lack of evidence at present is acknowledged in the EU policy document on natural water retention measures. We are considering co-funding a research project with the EPA in exactly this type of area. This involves trying to develop the evidence base to allow us to proceed with significant investments in these types of measures. We are pursuing this, but we have not implemented it at a micro-scale to date. As Mr. Buckley indicated previously, we have some schemes in hand which are looking at storing water rather than defending and conveying.

I am aware that in the Netherlands and other countries on continental Europe "room for the river" type schemes are a very popular approach involving the moving of dykes. The position in Ireland is that rivers already have room. We hear many complaints from farmers who want us to protect farmland. There are very short reaches of embanked river with flood protection defences, so it is not an approach we can apply because rivers already have the space to flood out, attenuate and store flood waters already.