I am informed by my officials that Dublin City Council, which is the contracting authority for the greater Dublin drainage study, which includes a full study on the River Tolka catchment, expects to receive a draft technical report on the River Tolka catchment from the consultants, M.C. O'Sullivan and Company later this month. This will require detailed technical examination by the contracting authority and the Office of Public Works. While the draft technical report is being considered the consultants will carry out an evaluation of the issues raised in third party submissions and will also complete a cost-benefit analysis on the recommended scheme. The contracting authority expects a draft final report before the end of July.
When the full report is completed, it should provide additional information on the entire catchment of the Tolka and this along with the items in the interim report, which have not yet been implemented, will provide the basis on which decisions will be made on further flood alleviation measures. Decisions on the provision of funding for a flood relief scheme on the catchment can only be made when the final report has been fully examined. The group undertaking the review of national flooding policy, which I set up late last year and which is now well under way, has met with the Irish Insurance Federation to discuss all the relevant issues in this area in detail. Regular communication will be developed between the IIF and the body charged with future responsibility for flood management in the country, an issue which is also under consideration as part of the review.
As I have outlined to the Deputy before, the Office of Public Works has been giving every assistance in these areas since the severe flooding from the River Tolka last November. In the immediate aftermath of the flooding the Office of Public Works mobilised its resources to carry out emergency works as three houses off Tolka Road were in danger of subsiding into the river. The work involved constructing a new wall along the Tolka to the rear of these houses. The Office of Public Works has also, since January, been carrying out further flood alleviation measures, which were contained in the interim report prepared by the consultants carrying out the flood study on the River Tolka for Dublin City Council. Further works including the construction of walls and embankments, the replacement of Woodville Road Footbridge and the maintenance cleaning of the channel have all been ongoing in this period. Indeed, the Office of Public Works will continue these interim works until the autumn when they are due to be completed.