Written answers

Tuesday, 20 October 2015

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Flood Risk Assessments

Photo of Michael McCarthyMichael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

296. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason the Office of Public Works has deemed a portion of land (details supplied) in County Cork to be a flood plain; if this adjudication will be reviewed, given that this land has never been the subject of, or at risk to, flooding; the options available to a person wishing to build a one-off family home on this land; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36104/15]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As indicated in my replies of 26 February 2015, 28 April 2015 and 16 June 2015, the draft predictive flood maps for Dunmanway are currently available for inspection on the South Western Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Study website www.southwestcframstudy.ie and the landowner may currently provide feedback on same. The CFRAM Programme flood maps will be finalised following a national public consultation which is due to be held in late 2015; details of which will be advertised in the national media and on the CFRAM Programme website www.cfram.ie.

Dunmanway is one of the 300 locations nationwide that are being assessed under the Office of Public Works' (OPW) CFRAM Programme, the purpose of which is to implement the EU Floods Directive and national flood policy.

The CFRAM Programme, which is being undertaken by engineering consultants on behalf of the OPW working in partnership with the Local Authorities, involves the production of predictive flood risk and hazard mapping for each location, the development of preliminary flood risk management options and flood risk management plans.

The draft flood maps do not represent flood events that have occurred in the past but are ‘predictive’ flood maps designed, in accordance with the EU Floods Directive, to show the chances of different types of flood events that could occur in the future and their impact.

The finalised CFRAM flood maps will inform the most feasible Flood Risk Management Plan for Dunmanway and will also be available for use as an information source for sustainable planning. Planning authorities have a range of options and information sources available to them in the context of decision making, including using their professional judgement, on planning applications.

The OPW has no statutory role in the planning process. The OPW has worked with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in the development of guidance on how flood risk should be taken into account in the area of planning. This resulted in the publication of The Guidelines on the Planning System and Flood Risk Management (2009). These have introduced a comprehensive and transparent framework for the incorporation of flood risk identification, assessment and management into the planning process.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.