Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question. I hope to visit Galway in the next couple of weeks. I know there is a significant amount of anxiety in respect of the situation there.

The OPW has developed a climate change sectoral adaptation plan for flood risk management that was approved by the Government in October 2019. The plan identifies on a national scale how climate change could impact on flooding, flood risk and flood risk management, and prioritises these impacts in terms of urgency of action and degree of impact.

The long-term goal adopted by the OPW on climate adaptation for flooding and flood risk management and set out in the plan is the promotion of sustainable communities and support of the environment through effective management of the potential impacts of climate change on flooding and flood risk. The OPW programme of flood relief schemes takes climate change into account. For example, the project brief for the detailed development of the Galway city flood relief scheme includes a requirement for a scheme adaptation plan that will set out how climate change has been taken into account during the design and construction, and what future adaptation measures might be needed - that is to what the Deputy is referring - and, more important, when.

The six-yearly reviews required under the EU floods directive will ensure that the current and future levels of flood risk to communities on our coast are kept under review, and plans put in place to manage that risk as it becomes significant.

The Government has established an interdepartmental group on managing coastal change to scope out an approach for the development of a national co-ordinated and integrated strategy to manage the projected impact of coastal change to our coastal communities. We cannot do this on our own. The interdepartmental group is jointly chaired by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the OPW, and will bring forward options and recommendations for the Government to consider shortly.

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