Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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192. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding the proposed flood relief works by the OPW at Annagh, Lisnagry, County Limerick. [28291/24]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW) is responsible for the maintenance of arterial drainage schemes completed under the Arterial Drainage Acts, 1945 and 1995, as amended. The works referred to by the Deputy do not form part of the Mulkear (Ballymackeogh) Arterial Drainage Scheme. The OPW has a statutory obligation to maintain this scheme and carries out on-going maintenance as necessary.

However, officials in the OPW South West Regional Office are aware that Limerick City and County Council are investigating and exploring available options to mitigate flood risk at Annagh upstream of the OPW maintained channel of the aforementioned scheme. The OPW have provided Limerick City and County Council with technical support to date on this project. The project will be progressed by Limerick City and County Council.

It is open to Limerick City and County Council to apply to the OPW for funding of this project under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme. The purpose of this scheme is to provide funding to Local Authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works or studies to address localised fluvial flooding and coastal protection problems within their administrative areas. The works to be funded are carried out under Local Authority powers and ongoing maintenance of the completed works is the responsibility of the Council.

The scheme generally applies to relatively straightforward cases where a solution can be readily identified and achieved in a short time frame. Under the scheme, applications are considered for projects that are estimated to cost not more than €750,000 in each instance. Funding of up to 90% of the cost is available for approved projects. Applications are assessed by the OPW having regard to the specific economic, social and environmental criteria of the scheme, including a cost benefit ratio and having regard to the availability of funding for flood risk management.