Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

66. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the funding allocated to each of the competent State agencies and authorities for the co-ordination and implementation of flood risk management and mitigation measures, by county, for each year since 2005 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2610/16]

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

The Office of Public Works (OPW) is the lead State body for the co-ordination and implementation of Government policy on flood risk management. It is allocated funding annually from the Exchequer for its various programmes and measures in this area. Approximately €378 million has been expended during the period 2005-2015 on major Flood Relief Schemes, undertaken directly by the OPW or funded by the OPW and undertaken by local authorities and also on the provision of funding to local authorities to carry our smaller, more localised flood relief works under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme. The total of €378m also includes expenditure by the OPW on its Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme. Expenditure by the OPW on its Arterial Drainage Maintenance programme is not included in the figure of €378m.

Expenditure for this period is shown on a county by county basis in the following table. The table shows that expenditure on major Flood Relief Schemes amounted to €267 million in this period while €52 million was spent on providing funding to Local Authorities to undertake small scale projects under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme which commenced in 2009 and for the repair and restoration of coastal defences following the storms which caused extreme damage at the beginning of 2014.

The OPW has spent approximately €60 million on other programmes, including the Flood Studies Update, Hydrology and Coastal, Flood Risk Data Management and the CFRAM Programme of studies, that is not attributable to a specific county and is therefore not included in the details of the table.

In addition to the above figures the OPW has spent €183 million over this period on its Arterial Drainage Maintenance Programme which covers 11,500 kms of river channels and approximately 730km of embankments around the country. As these are catchment based activities it is not possible to attribute the costs on a county basis and are therefore not included in the details of the table.

Local Authorities or other State bodies may have incurred expenditure directly themselves on flood relief measures utilising their own resources in the period in question. The OPW does not have any information on such expenditure.