Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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373. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there is a winter plan in place for 2020 in regard to flooding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35342/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) is the lead organisation for flood risk management in Ireland. The OPW has set out in Flood Plans how that flood risk is to be managed through investment in flood relief schemes and other policy measures. The Flood Plans detail the flood risk and proposed feasible flood risk management measures for 300 areas of significant flood risk throughout the country.

My Department undertakes the Lead Government Department role, as set out in the Strategic Emergency Management (SEM) Framework (2017), in relation to coordination of national level response to flooding emergencies, where warranted. This includes preparation of review reports into the response to flooding emergencies where national level coordination is activated, including the Review Report on Severe Weather Events 2017-2018, which is available on my Department's website at the following link:

This report was considered by the Government Task Force for Emergency Management and published by my Department in December 2019. This Department has implemented the recommendations relating to the Local Government sector, and inter-agency recommendations are progressed via the Government Task Force.

Local authorities are designated as lead agencies for coordinating the local response to flooding emergencies as per the Government decision relating to the “Framework for Major Emergency Management” (2006).

The arrangements for emergency management are seen as having worked extremely well, in particular the responses led by local authorities to flooding and other severe weather emergencies. Through the changes in working practices brought about as a result of Covid-19, my Department have made improvements such as providing a direct link between Met Éireann's forecasting and flood forecasting division and the local authorities in advance of any predicted severe weather event.

All local authorities have an established Severe Weather Assessment Team in place, monitoring Met Éireann weather warnings and OPW EFAS advisory warnings and High Tide Advisories. Local authorities also have Severe Weather/ Flood Plans in place to support the response to weather emergencies. A focus group, organised by Met Éireann, took place in September 2020, where Met Éireann shared updates regarding the development of flood forecasting and warning and updates in relation to the naming convention for storms and general weather warnings. The event was attended by National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management and Local Authority Severe Weather Assessment Teams.

In addition to this, the Be Winter Ready 2020-2021 information campaign was launched on Wednesday 4 November, following a meeting of the Government Task Force on Emergency Planning, which dealt with winter-preparedness issues, with representatives from Government Departments and Agencies briefing on their areas of responsibility.