Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is in consultation with the Office of Public Works and the local authorities to address ongoing flood prevention and management issues arising from the experience of the past number of years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44637/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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While my Department co-ordinates the national level response to several types of severe weather emergencies, including flooding, it has no role in relation to flood prevention or flood management. The development of flood prevention and protection measures is solely a matter for the Office of Public Works, which is the Lead Agency for flood risk management .I can advise the Deputy, however, that my Department in partnership with the Office of Public Works, published Guidelines for Planning Authorities on the Planning System and Flood Risk Managementin November 2009 with the aim of ensuring a more consistent, rigorous and systematic approach to flood risk identification, assessment and management within the planning system. These statutory guidelines provide the basis for planning authorities to identify, assess and take appropriate steps to manage flood risk in a sustainable manner.