Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kitt for raising this important issue. I confirm that I have been in discussions with the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, about this issue for some time. As the Deputy knows, I have visited the area and I have seen the scale of the problem. I suspect one of the reasons my predecessors have also been there and seen the problem is that if we could have found an easy solution, we would have found it some years ago. We are conscious of the issues in the Kiltiernan-Ballinderreen area. In 1995 my Department funded €317,000 towards the cost of the scheme following requests from the flood action group.

Payment was made to the trustees of the group in the period 1995 to 1997. It was a clear condition of the approved funding that responsibility for all aspects of the works, including ongoing maintenance, lay with the group.

Due to the history of flooding in the south Galway area and because of its particular geological features, such as karst limestone, the Office of Public Works commissioned a major flood study of the region in 1997. The study concluded that while a number of engineering solutions would alleviate some of the flooding problems in the area, none of the proposals was economically viable on the basis of a standard cost-benefit analysis. In addition, the environmental impacts of some of the proposals were unacceptable. As such, the OPW could not recommend proceeding with any of the proposals without further investigation.

Following the severe flood event in 2009, a south Galway steering committee comprising representatives of the OPW and Galway County Council, with which the office has a very good working relationship, was established to consider what mitigation works might be carried out in the area. A review of the south Galway flood study report was completed in 2011 and recommended both structural and non-structural proposals. Non-structural measures included planning controls, monitoring of flows at key locations, and refining the calibrations models. Structural proposals included engineering solutions at various locations in the area, including Kiltiernan and Ballinderreen. It was envisaged that if any works suggested by the review were found to be economically viable and environmentally acceptable, they would be taken forward with funding under the OPW's minor flood works scheme.

It is worth noting that under that scheme, approximately €1.5 million has been allocated to date to projects in the south Galway area out of total approved funding of more than €6 million for the whole of Galway city and county. In other words, very substantial funds have been put in place by this and the previous Government in recognition of the scale of the geological problem that exists in the region.

The scheme proposed by the consultants in respect of Kiltiernan-Ballinderreen was considered in detail by the OPW. It was found that it did not meet an essential criterion for funding from the scheme in that the benefit-to-cost ratio was significantly below the minimum threshold. Following appeals by Galway County Council and the Irish Farmers Association, the OPW reviewed the proposals and concluded there was significant doubt regarding the extent of the benefit that would accrue from the works. For example, some roads that were previously subject to flooding had been raised by the council. In addition, the OPW was of the view that due to the unique landscape and geology of the area and its designation as a special area of conservation, the proposals might not be acceptable on environmental grounds. At a meeting of the steering committee in late 2013, Galway County Council agreed to re-examine its position with a view to amending the proposals to address these issues.

I assure the Deputy that if an application for funding for revised flood mitigation proposals is submitted to the OPW, it will be given every consideration, having regard to the eligibility criteria applying to the scheme and the overall resources available to the OPW for flood mitigation measures.

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