Colm Keaveney (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the reason funding, an application for which was made in August 2015 but was rejected, will not be made available by the Office of Public Works for the drainage of swallow holes and the cleaning of the channel from Grannagh to Blackrock in Peterswell, County Galway, when the lack of funding and action in this area has led to excessive flooding, causing extreme inconvenience and discomfort to the local residents, involving houses and lands being flooded and lengthy detours around flooded areas to access services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42055/15]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Galway County Council submitted an application for funding to the Office of Public Works (OPW) under the Minor Flood Mitigation and Coastal Protection Scheme for works at this location. The OPW was not able to approve this application for the following reason.

From the information contained in the application it was not possible to adequately determine the benefits that would be derived from the proposed works due to the complexity of flooding attributed to groundwater in this area and in the South Galway area generally. For example, there are up to six swallow holes in close proximity to each other at Blackrock and one upstream of Ballybackagh Bridge.

It is open to the Council to provide clarification on these matters to support its application for funding. The OPW has informed the Council that further technical guidance can be obtained from engineering staff in the OPW's West Region office in Headford.