Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The Enniscorthy (River Slaney) flood defence scheme is being progressed by Wexford County Council, on behalf of the Office of Public Works, as a scheme under the Arterial Drainage Acts 1945 and 1995. This is a significant scheme within the Office of Public Works (OPW) €1.3 billion flood relief investment programme nationally, as part of the NDP, from which the relevant funding for the Enniscorthy scheme will be made available. On completion, the scheme will protect 236 properties in the town.

The scheme was submitted through the confirmation process under the Arterial Drainage Acts to the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform for assessment in mid-2020. In March 2022 the OPW received a decision from the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) to refuse the Scheme under Section 7E(1)(b) of the Arterial Drainage Acts (as amended by the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Arterial Drainage) Regulations 2019) due to a number of inadequacies with the Environmental Impact Assessment Report.

Following this decision the Project team is now examining how to address the questions raised in the DPER decision and consequently identify what the preferred approach will be. The project team, including consultants Mott MacDonald (MMD), have been meeting regularly to progress and address these issues.

This involves looking at the various approval mechanisms available. MMD have been tasked with identifying the optimum solution to progressing a scheme through the approval process. Before a decision can be made in this regard, we are obliged to undertake significant additional analysis (incl. further assessment of alternatives). The road map to this goal is currently in development.

The preferred approach will be established as the required additional analysis, survey work and evaluation of options is completed. Whatever the planning route, it has been identified that additional survey work and further detailed options assessments (i.e. assessment of alternatives) will need to be carried out. The scheme consultants are working on the options assessment and have identified all the time sensitive survey worked required which are currently under way.