Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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200. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the funding available to implement flood risk management plans being developed under CFRAMS; the criteria for prioritisation of the allocation of funding for flood defences which need to be constructed pursuant to the plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44104/14]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Flood Risk Management Plans which will be produced under the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme, will include an integrated and prioritised set of measures to address flood risk within the area covered by the Plan. The Plan will also provide preliminary costings for the proposed measures. Until the Plans are finalised, it is not possible therefore to determine the overall level of funding that will be required to implement the Plans and the measures contained therein. I can confirm however, that I and the Government are committed to ensuring that flood risk management remains a priority area for funding within the overall public capital investment programme.

A standardised methodology based on Multi-Criteria-Analysis (MCA), which will enable prioritisation of flood relief measures on a systematic and objective basis is currently being developed as part of the CFRAM Programme. This is proposed to be based primarily on the overall benefits and impacts of the proposed measures, when assessed against a range of objectives including social, environmental, economic and technical relative to the cost of the measures. A public consultation process on the aforementioned objectives is currently underway and details are available on the CFRAM website www.cfram.ie.

The Government has prioritised investment in Flood Risk Management by allocating some €225 million to the Office of Public Works (OPW) over the period 2012 to 2016 as part of its Infrastructure and Capital Investment Framework, giving an annual average allocation of €45 million. This is a very substantial commitment in current difficult financial conditions and underlines the priority given to this area.

The OPW currently has three major schemes at various stages of construction with another seven schemes due to commence construction next year. In addition, another twenty three schemes are at various stages of planning, many of which will be expected to move to construction in 2016-2017. In addition, under the Minor Flood Mitigation & Coastal Protection Scheme, funding has been provided for over 430 projects around the country, since it was introduced in 2009.