Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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245. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount spent by the Office of Public Works, OPW, on clearing vegetation from rivers and waterways in each county between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2020, in tabular form; the rationale for this activity; the environmental assessments carried out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9974/21]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) undertakes vegetation management on rivers as part of its statutory duty for the maintenance of completed arterial drainage schemes and completed flood relief schemes under the 1945 and 1995 Arterial Drainage Acts. Some 2,100km of channel and some 135km of embankments are maintained annually.

In total, the OPW has responsibility for the maintenance of over 11,500km of channel and some 800km of embankments. In relation to the arterial drainage schemes, the OPW carries out these works in order to ensure that the level of drainage afforded to the benefiting agricultural lands is maintained. Arterial drainage maintenance provides benefit to in excess of 242,800 hectares (600,000 acres) of agricultural land and provides a level of flood protection to in excess of twenty thousand dwellings and properties located within the benefiting lands and over seven thousand properties which are located behind scheme embankments. In addition, a significant level of flood protection is afforded to dwellings, properties and infrastructure in the towns and villages through which these arterial drainage scheme channels flow.

These maintenance works are carried out in accordance with relevant legislation, through a range of environmental assessments, including Strategic Environmental Assessments, Appropriate Assessments and Ecological Assessments. These maintenance operations are carried out in line with the OPW’s Environmental Guidance, Drainage Maintenance and Construction Procedures. This guidance was developed in consultation with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland. Benefiting opportunities are often taken, both directly and in conjunction with other agencies, to include environmental enhancement measures as part of their maintenance operations. At a number of locations on schemes, the OPW in co-operation with landowners and other stakeholders are managing/controlling invasive species. The Environmental Guidance, together with the current Strategic Environmental Assessment 2018-2021 which is aligned with the six year reporting cycles of the Water Framework Directive and the Floods Directive and, the current 5 Yearly Appropriate Assessments are available on the OPW Website.

The OPW also provides funding under the Minor Works Flood Mitigation and Coastal Protection Scheme to Local Authorities with a clear requirement that the Local Authorities are responsible for undertaking the works in compliance with environmental legislation.

The OPW does not record expenditure on vegetation management activities separately from channel maintenance, embankment maintenance and refurbishment, repairs and refurbishment to sluices, bridges, pumping stations and barrages on its drainage maintenance activities. The OPW does not have information broken down by county as the schemes are in the main catchment drainage schemes which traverse county boundaries.