Kevin Moran (Longford-Westmeath, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to attend the House. I appreciate the opportunity to address this important issue. I am joined by members of the flood risk management division of the Office of Public Works, OPW. I will focus on the specific area of flooding that Senators have raised. I will briefly outline some of the relevant context, achievements and challenges.

The OPW co-ordinates the whole-of-government approach to managing coastal and river flooding and its social, economic and environmental impacts through the interdepartmental flood policy co-ordination group. The whole-of-government approach is necessary to support flood risk management so that Departments and State agencies each take the lead to provide effective supports and policy measures within their areas of responsibility and to promote and address community and individual responses. The core policy objective is to reduce to the greatest extent possible the impact of flooding on homes and businesses across the country. In doing so, the OPW delivers a range of structural and non-structural measures, including working closely with local authorities to progress flood relief schemes for at-risk communities nationwide.

Flood policy has three key pillars of prevention, protection and preparedness, which are underpinned by research and data evidence. Prevention is aimed at avoiding or removing flood risk that can be achieved, for example, by avoiding construction in flood-prone areas. Protection is aimed at reducing the likelihood and severity of flood events. This typically involves physical works, such as defending at-risk areas from flooding through the delivery of major flood relief schemes. Preparedness includes actions and measures that can be taken to reduce the consequence of flooding by, for example, informing the public about preparing for a risk of flooding and taking the appropriate action during the flood event. Though I will focus primarily on the protection policy pillar in these opening remarks, I welcome Senators' statements in respect of any of these specific policy areas.

Historically, flood risk management focused on arterial drainage to improve land for agriculture and mitigate flooding. Arising from an increasing flood risk to urban areas, the Arterial Drainage Act 1945 was amended in 1995 to permit the OPW to implement flood relief schemes to provide flood protection for cities, towns and villages. To identify communities that are at risk from significant flood events, the OPW completed the largest study of flood risk ever undertaken by the State in 2018. The OPW catchment-based flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, programme was undertaken by engineering consultants on behalf of the OPW, working in partnership with the local authorities. The CFRAM programme studied 80% of Ireland's primary flood risk and identified solutions that can protect from 95% of that risk.

As the then Minister of State with special responsibility for the OPW and flood relief, I was pleased to publish the 29 flood risk management plans to address flood risk in Ireland in May 2018. Those plans provide the roadmap for the Government's investment in flood relief schemes today, identifying some 150 new and additional flood relief schemes that will provide protection to approximately 23,000 homes and businesses in communities across the country. The Government is supporting the delivery of the measures outlined in these plans by means of national development plan funding of €1.3 billion to 2030.

Progressing this significantly increased programme of flood relief schemes requires capacity and capability in highly specialised areas of engineering. Many of these schemes are being led by local authorities in partnership with the OPW. Each scheme is progressed by a design team. Designing the optimal technical solution, ensuring a robust approach to environmental assessments and meeting other regulatory requirements are all essential steps. To assist in the delivery of the first tranche of flood relief schemes, the OPW is funding 50 engineering staff in local authorities across Ireland.

Nationally, significant progress has been made to date in the delivery of this ambitious programme to protect communities against flooding from rivers and the sea. Investment through the national development plan and working in partnership with local authorities has allowed the OPW to triple the number of flood relief schemes at design, planning or construction to some 100 schemes. Today, work to protect 80% of all at-risk properties nationally is completed or under way. To date, the OPW has invested €570 million in 55 completed flood relief schemes, protecting over 13,500 properties, with an estimated economic benefit to the State in damages and losses avoided of €2 billion.

The OPW's major flood relief schemes are typically designed and built to a standard that protects areas against one-in-100-year flood events and protects coastal areas against one-in-200-year flood events, where it is feasible to do so. These are major flood events that can cause significant impact and are often called once-in-a-lifetime floods. In reality, the term "one-in-100-year floods" means there is a 1% chance of them occurring in any single year. While the likelihood is low, the impact of these floods is significant in terms of damage.

While timelines may vary significantly from project to project, completion of stages 1 to 5 takes, on average, 11 years in total. Specifically, the five delivery stages are as follows. Stage 1, scheme development and preliminary design, takes an average of 48 months. Stage 2, planning process or public exhibition and confirmation, takes an average of 24 months. Stage 3, detailed design, takes an average of 12 months. Stage 4, construction, takes an average of 36 months. Stage 5, handover of works, takes an average of 12 months.

Any flood relief scheme needs to map and understand the location and the flooding sources and constraints. This is achieved by extensive and wide-ranging surveys to understand the landscape, hydrology and environment of a community. Extensive public consultation is required at various stages to ensure that those affected by a scheme have the opportunity to input into its design and implementation. The delivery of all schemes must meet all regulatory and planning requirements. While a key part of due process, timeframes to obtain planning decisions, as well as managing judicial reviews of those decisions, impact on delivery timelines. Notwithstanding the challenges, I am pleased to report that in 2024, five schemes progressed to construction stage as planned. This brings the total number of flood relief schemes currently at construction stage to 11 schemes nationwide.Such schemes will benefit communities in a wide range of counties, including Cork, Clare, Dublin, Kildare, Limerick, Tipperary, Mayo and Westmeath. I have visited a number of these sites and most recently I was pleased to turn on the interim pumping solutions to help manage the flood risk at Lough Funshinagh in County Roscommon.

As well as managing significant flood events, the OPW supports local authorities in managing localised flood risk. Under the OPW’s minor flood mitigation works and coastal protection scheme, local authorities can undertake minor flood mitigation works or studies to address localised fluvial flooding and coastal protection problems within their administrative areas. Under the scheme, applications are considered for projects that are estimated to cost not more than €750,000 in each instance. As of the end of 2024, the OPW has approved funding of €68.6 million across 900 unique projects.

I thank Senators for their time, work, and commitment to improving society and the lives of citizens, and I appreciate their interest in matters relating to flooding. I look forward to hearing their statements.