Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is absolutely right about the fear that people feel when they see horrific events like very serious flooding coming towards their property. I know that as I come from a constituency which has suffered extreme levels of flooding in the past.

The catchment flood risk assessment and management programme provided the Government with the evidence to launch a national and proactive programme of 120 additional and new flood relief schemes in 2018. While Midleton was part of this CFRAM programme, major flooding in December 2015 and again in January 2016 were the catalysts to commence work for the design of a flood relief scheme for Midleton ahead of the conclusion of the CFRAM programme.

Cork County Council is leading the design of the scheme and in 2017 appointed engineering and environmental consultants. Designing any flood relief scheme is complex and requires data on the flood sources and their associated risks. Today some 100 schemes are at design and construction stages. Midleton has proven to be one of the most complex schemes. It has flood risks from four sources, fluvial, tidal, groundwater and pluvial. In 2017, data did not exist on all these sources of flooding and monitoring was required over a number of years to allow the flooding mechanism to be understood.

Three public participation days have been held in 2017, 2020 and 2022.

As well as engaging with the local community on the scheme’s progress, these served to gather useful information and assess their views on the preferred option for the Midleton flood relief scheme. The outcome also increased the scope of the analysis and assessments required. The preferred scheme has now been identified with a total project budget of €50 million, three times the estimated budget in 2017. This highlights the scale of the project’s increase in scope. It also highlights that today we have designed a scheme that is robust, supported by strong evidence, has the support of the community and is future-proofed and adaptable to climate change scenarios. The preferred option protects 580 properties against a one-in-100-year flood fluvial event, can give back flood insurance to the town and stands up to scrutiny and-or challenge.

Having invested eight years in arriving at the preferred scheme, an assessment following Storm Babet is under way, so we know we have a scheme that can meet the standard of protection required by the insurance industry. The next major step is to seek planning consent, and work has already begun on the environmental surveys to allow us to start the planning consent process early in 2024.

After Storm Babet, the OPW met with the chief executive and senior officials from Cork County Council and the scheme’s consultants to discuss how the Midleton scheme can be delivered as quickly as possible. While the planning stage for this project is due to commence shortly, Cork County Council is assessing Storm Babet to identify the possibility of advancing any viable interim and targeted works for the town. Identification and ongoing roll-out of interim measures has also been progressed, including removal of trees in the channel at Moore’s Bridge, installation of a water level gauge at Tír Cluain Bridge, with additional gauges to be installed at Lidl Bridge and a pedestrian bridge in the People’s Park in January 2024. The OPW and local authorities do not have the powers to expedite these schemes arising from the damage caused by flooding events, and the delivery of all schemes must meet all of the regulatory and planning requirements. Consideration is being given to the preferred planning route that can deliver these schemes as quickly as possible.

It is not possible to progress all 150 flood relief schemes identified by the flood risk management plans simultaneously due to the constraint of the availability of the professional and specialised engineering skills required to design and construct flood relief schemes. While the prioritised approach to delivering schemes means work is complete or under way to protect some 80% of all at-risk properties nationally, the flood relief project at Castlemartyr is not in the first tranche of projects being progressed nationally. However, the funding for this scheme is available.

Under the OPW flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme, applications by local authorities for localised flood mitigation measures are considered for projects that are estimated to cost not more than €750,000 in each instance. Funding of up to 90% of the cost is available for approved projects. Applications are assessed by the OPW having regard to the specific economic, social and environmental criteria of the scheme, including a cost-benefit ratio and having regard to the availability of funding for the flood risk management. All details of this scheme are available on the OPW website.

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