Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising these issues. I am aware that the risk of flooding has a significant impact on communities. I am also aware of the distress flooding can cause to people and the impact it can have on their homes, businesses and farms. In 2018, the OPW completed the largest study of flood risk ever undertaken by the State, the catchment flood risk assessment management, CFRAM, study, to establish which communities are at risk from significant flood events. This provided the roadmap for the delivery of Government investment in flood relief schemes.

Flood relief schemes are the primary means of protecting cities, towns and villages from flooding. Outside of the major flood relief schemes, local flooding issues are being addressed by local authorities with the support of the OPW under the minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme. This scheme provides funding for minor flood mitigation works or studies, costing less than €750,000 each, to address localised flooding and coastal protection problems. Funding for up to 90% of the cost is available for approved projects. The scheme generally applies where a solution can be readily identified and achieved in a short timeframe. To date, the OPW has approved funding under the scheme of more than €40 million for some 700 projects for the Shannon river basin district.

On the issue of Lough Funshinagh, local flooding issues are a matter, in the first instance, for each local authority to investigate and address. All local authorities, including Roscommon County Council, may carry out flood mitigation works within their capital works programme and using their own resources or by applying for funding under the OPW’s minor flood mitigation works scheme. Roscommon County Council is leading the response to the flooding risk at Lough Funshinagh. Under the direction of the Minister of State, Deputy O’ Donovan, senior officials from the OPW met officials from Roscommon County Council during 2022, focusing on identifying possible approaches to a viable solution to manage flood risk at Lough Funshinagh. In December 2022, Roscommon County Council and the OPW agreed to establish an expert working group to support and help to identify the pathway to a means of progressing a viable solution. The membership of this expert working group includes cross-departmental and agency representation. The initial work of the expert group was to scope out the requirements for a commission to undertake the necessary surveys and investigations. This work is being informed by an OPW review of the evidence and research on the nature and functioning of Lough Funshinagh. The brief for the necessary surveys and investigations required has been progressed, but due to current market conditions there has been difficulty procuring these services. A steering group led by the council, with representation from the OPW, oversees the work to identify a viable solution to manage the flooding risk at Lough Funshinagh. The steering group has been meeting regularly to discuss progression of the necessary surveys and investigations and the estimated timelines to progress to implementation.

On the Shannon Callows, there are currently 13 completed schemes on the Shannon river basin district and these schemes are already providing protection to more than 2,600 properties. These completed schemes entailed a total investment of €71.9 million. A further 38 flood relief schemes will be progressed in the Shannon catchment as part of the Government’s €1.3 billion investment in flood relief measures over the lifetime of the national development plan to 2030. The OPW and local authorities are working together to advance 26 of these schemes, including schemes at Athlone and Springfield that are currently at construction stage.

The total funding commitment in respect of these 26 schemes is more than €240 million. The remaining 12 projects will commence during the lifetime of the NDP. When completed, the schemes will protect 95% of properties identified as being at significant risk from flooding in the Shannon river basin district.

For all flood relief schemes, including those in the Shannon river basin district, designing a technical solution, ensuring a robust approach to environmental assessments, and fulfilling other regulatory requirements are essential to informing the best scheme and reducing the risk of challenges to a proposed scheme. By meeting such requirements as an EIA report, appropriate assessment screening or Natura impact statement, the likely effects of each scheme on the environment are fully considered, such that any impacts can be appropriately mitigated and the integrity of European designated sites is not adversely affected.

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