Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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735. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will provide an update on the development of national hazard maps for surface water and groundwater flooding, as recommended in the National Climate Change Risk Assessment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30735/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Planning System and Flood Risk Management Guidelines for Planning Authorities (2009) were prepared jointly by my Department and the OPW and were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Guidelines provide for the incorporation of flood risk identification, assessment and management in the planning process. Planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard to the Guidelines in the performance of their functions under the Act.

The Guidelines are also cited in National Policy Objective 78 of the Revised National Planning Framework (2025) and in Regional Policy Objectives contained in the three Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. Local authority city and county development plans are required to be consistent with the policy objectives of the NPF and the relevant Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy.

The Flood Risk Management Guidelines advocate for a sequential approach to development that incorporates flood risk assessment involving identification of flood zones and classification of the vulnerability of different types of development to flooding. In achieving the aims and objectives of the Guidelines, the key principles are to:

:: Avoid the risk where possible,

:: Substitute less vulnerable uses where avoidance is not possible, and

:: Mitigate and manage the risk where avoidance and substitution are not possible.

Exceptions to restrictions on development are provided for through the use of a Justification Test at both the plan-making and planning application stages where an essential planning need must be demonstrated together with evidence that the risk can be sustainably managed.

The Guidelines require Strategic Food Risk Assessment to be undertaken for statutory plans, such as city and county development plans, and the results of such assessments to be integrated into the adopted plan. The Office of the Planning Regulator has statutory responsibility for the independent evaluation and assessment of local authority development plans and, where it considers it is merited, may recommend that the Minister use his/her statutory function to direct changes to a plan to address identified issues including, for example, inappropriate land use zoning within areas at known risk of flooding. Thereafter the relevant statutory plan is a critical consideration in the assessment of any planning application. The assessment of individual planning applications remains to be carried out on a case-by-case basis by each planning authority and/or An Bord Pleanála in accordance with the requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, including the development plan for the area and the 2009 Guidelines.

My Department is currently working with the OPW to develop further guidance on the consideration of the potential impacts of climate change on flooding and flood risk as part of the planning and development management process, and the application of the 2009 Guidelines.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Ireland’s first National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) on 3 June 2025. The NCCRA provides government, business, communities and other stakeholders with the best available evidence and analysis to inform climate adaptation and resilience. In particular, the NCCRA will support the development of Sectoral Adaptation Plans as well as guiding the development of local authority adaptation plans and informing other national level adaptation responses.

With regard to flood hazard mapping, it should be noted that the Office of Public Works (OPW) is the national authority for the implementation of the EU Floods Directive and undertakes key steps of flood risk analysis and planning, including carrying out flood risk assessments, preparing flood hazard and risk maps and preparing flood risk management plans.