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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 1 Feb 1994

Vol. 438 No. 1

Adjournment Debate. - Meath River Flooding.

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this matter tonight. No Government Department is willing to accept financial or statutory responsibility for the flooding of houses in Duleek and certain public buildings in Julianstown, both of which are on the banks of the Nanny River. The Nanny catchment is due to be drained under the Arterial Drainage Act but this is not likely to occur until we are half way throught the next century, if ever.

The Office of Public Works will not accept any immediate responsibility for this matter. The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Dempsey, said in the Dáil on 23 November that the 1945 Arterial Drainage Act does not allow the Minister to undertake works to relieve flooding of specific houses. It seems in effect that that Act can only be used to drain an entire catchment principally for the agricultural benefits that might accrue and the Office of Public Works does not concern itself with the flooding of houses.

On that occasion the Minister of State drew attention to the fact that the Local Authority (Works) Act, 1949 does allow the local authorities to carry out such works but the fact is they have no money to do this. Since the abolition of domestic rates they have no source from which to raise funds to carry out this work themselves. I asked the Minister for the Environment about the matter and he said the grants from the Environment Vote to the local authorities address flood relief requirements only in the context of measures to relieve the surcharge on existing drainage works in built up areas. They do not deal with the more general problem of flooding because of a river overflowing. In this case there is overflow of both the Nanny and Paramadden Rivers, which converge at the estate about which I am concerned in particular in Duleek, the Mill Race housing estate.

The Mill Race housing estate in Duleek has been flooded three or four times since it was built. Twenty-two of the 122 houses are flooded each time there is flooding. One of these is occupied by an elderly person and another by a lone parent with two children. Each time this estate is flooded the entrance is also flooded with the result that all 122 houses are cut-off, even though only 22 are flooded. The insurance companies have refused to continue to quote for flood insurance to the affected houses in Mill Race housing estate.

Meath County Council, representatives of which visited the estate last week, has indicated that it is refusing to take over responsibility for this estate. It remains the responsibility of the developer who has left it. The county council which I have contacted about the matter says that it is not willing and does not believe that it would be worth while to conduct any further works in the area, such as the building of banks, because it feels they will not work. A hydrographic study of the entire Nanny and Paramadden catchments needs to be carried out to ensure those works would be effective and the county council does not have the money to finance a study of this magnitude and, indeed, does not have the expertise. The Office of Public Works does but it has refused to do anything about it for the reasons I have indicated. It does not accept responsibility. I have raised the matter in the House in the hope that some Minister will accept responsibility for the matter and that something will be done.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter which is of great interest to both of us as the Nanny river happens to be in our constituency. I cannot agree with him when he says that the Office of Public Works will not accept any responsibility. The simple fact, as he knows as a former Minister for Finance, is that the Commissioners of Public Works and the Office of Public Works have no powers to undertake drainage works to relieve flooding of homes in Duleek, Julianstown or in any other river catchment area. Responsibility for such works rests with the local authority, under the Local Authority (Works) Act, 1949 to which I adverted previously in an answer in the House.

The powers of the Commissioners of Public Works to undertake drainage schemes arises under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945. That Act provides only for the execution of comprehensive drainage schemes on entire river catchments. The commissioners have no power at present to undertake limited drainage schemes to relieve flooding. I would like to inform the Deputy that I am reviewing that matter at present.

As the Deputy outlined and as I am fully aware, there has been a long history of flooding in Duleek and in Julianstown. The flooding which is particularly acute in Duleek and in the estate he mentioned — Mill Race — is due to the inability of the River Nanny or its tributaries to cope with the volume of water that arises at times of exceptional rainfall. There is a theory that it is due to a combination of factors, not just exceptional rainfall. It is felt that there must be an easterly wind and a high tide at the same time to cause an exceptional flood but, as I said, that is a theory and it has not been proved or disproved.

This seems to happen very often.

As the Deputy said, it has happened three times during the past ten years.

Far too often.

When the Deputy was Minister for Finance and had responsibility for the Office of Public Works he had an opportunity to do something about it but nothing was done.

I was Minister only for a brief period, as the Minister of State well knows. He should not use that to avoid responsibility now.

The Deputy found himself in a much more powerful position.

Let us hear the Minister of State's reply.

Four possible solutions have been put forward to this problem: full arterial drainage, diversion of the River Nanny and its tributaries, erection of flood barriers — the county council has done some work in that regard — and interception of flood waters upstream. All the experts agree that until the necessary data is collected it will not be possible for the relevant authorities to make decisions on which is the optimum solution.

The first thing that must be done therefore in order to provide a solution to the flooding problem in Duleek and Julianstown is to collect comprehensive hydrometric data over a period of years on the River Nanny and its tributaries around Duleek and Julianstown. When sufficient data has been collected on water levels and floods over a range of weather conditions the information that is essential for the design of an economic and successful scheme to overcome the flooding problem will be available.

I am happy to be able to inform the Deputy that following discussions which I and my officials have had with Meath County Council during the past few months arrangements have been agreed for the collection of the necessary hydrometric data by the Office of Public Works with the assistance of the county council. The arrangements for the supply and installation of the necessary measuring gauges and other items are already in train. I am also happy to be able to assure the Deputy that the necessary resources to undertake the hydrometric survey are in place and that his concern in that respect is misplaced. I can also assure the Deputy that I will continue to take an active interest in this matter.

How long will this take?

I cannot say how long it will take except that the meters are being installed immediately. If the Deputy knows anything about hydrometric studies he will know that it will take some time and that flows will have to be measured over a range of conditions before any final decisions can be made on which is the optimum solution.

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