Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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In 2016, the Government agreed to the establishment of a National Flood Forecasting and Warning Service (NFFWS) to enable members of the public and local authorities take more preparatory action to reduce the impact of flooding.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) chairs the Steering Group for the NFFWS, which is also comprised of representatives from Met Éireann, the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the County and City Management Association, to steer and support the establishment of the new Service.

The Steering Group agreed an implementation plan for Stage I, the set up and establishment phase of the multi-stage development of the NFFWS and there has been significant progress made to date in relation to its development, including

• Recruitment and training of staff for Met Éireann’s Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC) (11 Staff members)
• Provision of accommodation for the FFC
• Provision of real-time hydrometric and meteorological data for the Service
• Development of National and Catchment scale hydrological models (river models) for flood forecasting
• Transfer of the National Tide and Storm Surge Forecast model to Met Éireann
• Development of the Irish Flood Information Communication System (IFICS) online platform.

Stage I, which is focused on National and Catchment level fluvial (river) and coastal flood forecasting, is nearing completion and it is intended to bring a report to Government in the coming months setting out proposals for the further development of the service.

The NFFWS is providing information and guidance to decision making stakeholders such as the Local Authorities, the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management and other agencies which is utilised by these stakeholders to inform their responses to specific flood threats and events.

The service information is tailored for these stakeholders and provides valuable information regarding the likelihood of river and/or coastal flooding. This information can be utilised by these stakeholders to manage flood risk and make decisions pertaining to emergency response measures.

Additional development stages for the service are being planned to focus on enhancing the fluvial and coastal forecast system to provide a greater level of detail and accuracy in forecasted information. This will involve the installation of new rainfall and flow gauges, improvements to the rainfall radar network and re-calibration of models after notable flood events amongst others.