Seanad Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 26 Jan 2010

Vol. 200 No. 3

Flood Relief.

Senator Nicky McFadden

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy John Curran, and thank him for the kind and courteous way in which he dealt with people in Mullingar today. I really appreciated that.

I raise this matter because of a meeting held in Ballinasloe on Sunday, 17 January 2010. The Irish Farmers' Association convened the meeting under the chairmanship of the new president, John Bryan. It was a very successful meeting attended by 700 people. All of the people there had been affected by flooding. It is hard for me to explain how awful it is for people who have not been devastated by it. It is a most extraordinary situation which I have discussed at length with the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Mansergh.

The most fundamental need now is for a single agency which will take control of the maintenance of the River Shannon and its tributaries. That is the bottom line. The IFA said that for 70 years nothing has been done in regard to siltation in the river. I have listed the organisations involved before but I will do so again. The ESB, the Office of Public Works, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the fisheries board, Bord na Móna and Shannon Navigation all have vested interests. All do very worthwhile work; I am not condemning or castigating any of the organisations. However, when there is a crisis or when serious maintenance is needed, none will take responsibility and spend the money to look after the river. There was an obligation on Bord na Móna to provide silting ponds, which it did. However, who monitored it or who was responsible to ensure there was ongoing maintenance of those siltation ponds?

Numerous reports have been done, including the Rydell report after the 1954 flood and the 2000 and 2001 reports, which were good reports done by the late Seán Doherty, may he rest in peace. We do not really need more reports. We need action, with a single agency taking responsibility and the lead.

The Minister of State attended that meeting and spoke about giving more powers to the Office of Public Works. That is welcome but it is not necessarily that it will have the authority to manage the ESB or national parks and wildlife service. It is outrageous that a small fish can hold up the drainage of the Shannon or that siltation cannot be spread on the land because it would affect flora and fauna. While I am as green as the next person and I aspire to protecting the environment all the time, the devastation and the loss of livelihood for those living on the banks of the Shannon is indescribable. These people are still suffering and farmers are anxious about how they will feed their animals. This is the third time the callows of the Shannon have flooded this year. It is devastating for families, businesses and the midlands in general, along with Cork and the other areas that were flooded.

I commend the IFA and wish the new president, Mr. John Bryan, well. His foresight in giving Mr. Michael Silke, a responsible officer in the IFA, the lead in dealing with flooding, when he knows what it is like to be devastated by flooding, is to be welcomed. I look forward to engaging further with the Minister of State.

Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (Deputy John Curran)

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, who welcomes the opportunity to outline current and future developments in flood risk management.

The Minister of State again extends his sympathy to all those affected by the floods of November 2009 and who may still be suffering the aftermath of that extreme weather event. He has expressed before his deep upset at the level of damage and loss he witnessed, and his appreciation of the great work delivered locally by the emergencies services and other State agencies.

In the short intervening period, the Government has provided substantial additional funding for the areas affected by the November floods. These funds include an initial sum of €10 million provided for a humanitarian aid scheme to alleviate hardship caused by the flooding, €2 million allocated for a targeted fodder aid scheme administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, €14 million provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for post-flooding clean-up by local authorities and an increase to €50 million in the capital allocation of the Office of Public Works' allocation for flood risk management for 2010.

At national level, the need for a proactive approach to the management of flood risk was recognised by the report of the flood policy review group. The Government decided in September 2004 to adopt the recommendations of the review and the OPW was assigned the responsibilities of lead agency for flood risk management. The OPW's strategy for the management of flood risks is based on the recommendations of the review.

The main work programme to deliver on that strategy is the catchment flood risk assessment and management programme. This programme has commenced on the River Lee and River Dodder. The objective is to complete the programme nationally to meet the requirements set out in the EU floods directive. That directive requires that the level of flood risk in each catchment, including the Shannon, be identified and a prioritised plan of measures be drawn up to address the areas of significant flood risk. The OPW will take the lead co-ordinating role in carrying out these studies.

Moreover, by the transposition of the EU floods directive into national law, the OPW will become the national competent authority with overall responsibility for all matters relating to the assessment and management of flood risk in the State. The OPW will therefore be in a position to bring together the various stakeholders to develop a co-ordinated flood risk management plan for each river catchment. The OPW is committed to engaging in comprehensive consultative processes in all situations where its work programmes are likely to affect the remits of other organisations.

The OPW will be commissioning the Shannon flood risk assessment and management study, which is expected to commence in mid-2010. It will involve all the main stakeholders who have a role in the management of the Shannon being consulted, including the ESB, Waterways Ireland and relevant local authorities. The study will look at all options for dealing with areas of significant flood risk. The objective of this exercise is to determine relative roles and define relative responsibilities of all the main bodies involved with the Shannon with a view to ensuring all flood risk factors are identified and managed in a co-ordinated way. This study will meet the requirements of the EU floods directive for the River Shannon catchment. The Minister of State wishes also to emphasise that, pending completion of the study for the Shannon catchment, the OPW, through its minor works scheme, will work with the relevant local authorities to identify areas that may benefit from interim localised mitigation measures.

Senator Nicky McFadden

When will the maintenance begin? That was not mentioned in the reply. I understand the OPW is responsible for maintenance but according to this reply it will be responsible for co-ordinating and liaising with all relevant bodies. There is no work plan for maintaining and cleaning the River Shannon to stop it from flooding. I would be grateful if that message could be passed on to the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh.

Deputy John Curran

There were two parts to the reply. The main part was that the expected flood risk assessment and management study will be undertaken from mid-2010 but, in the interim, through its minor works scheme, the OPW will work with the relevant local authorities to identify areas that may benefit from localised mitigation measures while that study is being conducted.

Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill

This Adjournment matter also relates to flooding, in Donegal of all places. We are getting use to that happening, even though there are hills and mountains. There were incidences of flooding in two particular areas and I am going to refer to Raphoe in the heart of the Finn valley where, in 2006 and 2007, there were a number of flooding events. Following that, in conjunction with Donegal County Council and the Office of Public Works, Jacobs Consulting Engineers were appointed to carry out a comprehensive study. They have now completed the study and have issued the final version of the flood study which has been accepted by both Donegal County Council and the OPW.

The flood study began with computer modelling of the town's drainage system using survey data provided by the council and land survey information provided by the OPW. Once the drainage system was modelled, the consultants recreated the flood events of 2006 and 2007 using local weather data for those days and predicted the flood depths at particular locations. These were then compared with the actual flood depths that occurred on the ground before the model was fine-tuned. The engineers then considered the properties in the area and estimated the monetary value of the damage to properties in Raphoe if no remedial works were undertaken by either the council or the OPW. This assessment was based on the numbers and types of properties that would be affected. This is the common benchmark for justification of all flood relief schemes. The engineers found the damages would amount to €4,424,000 if nothing was done. They then assessed the environmental constraints of the Raphoe area to ensure any proposal would not adversely impact on the sites of cultural, historical and environmental significance in the area, of which there are many.

Once complete, the engineers initially considered 20 flood relief options, of which 13 were structural and seven were non-structural. Initial screening discounted eight of the options, four structural and four non-structural. The remaining 12 options were considered in more detail. Three of the remaining 12, one of which was structural and two of which were non-structural, were then recommended. These broke down into public awareness, individual property flood resistance and channel maintenance. The remaining nine options — one non-structural and eight structural — were then considered in more detail.

Without going into them, the study found that no option would lead to the complete alleviation of flooding in Raphoe. The engineers considered the value of the benefits of each option to the town of Raphoe against the cost of implementation. This appraisal found that six options were technically and economically viable and capable of reducing the flood risk in Raphoe, namely, land use management, storage, increased conveyance, construction of defences, overland run-off and overland run-off into flood areas. The report of the engineers found that the six options would need to be subject to feasibility studies and evaluated in more detail. It recommended that further investigation be undertaken in Raphoe, including a survey of property thresholds etc.

The next stage of the project appears to involve the council, in conjunction with and with the prior approval of the OPW, in seeking to commission a feasibility study of the potential viable options as indicated in the report. I understand there has been communication between the council and the OPW and that the former is waiting for approval to proceed with a feasibility study which I hope will be undertaken in the short term. While it may not be possible tonight to be given a date for approval, I want to highlight that the council has done as much work as it can and that the matter is now one for the OPW. Were approval forthcoming, I understand the feasibility study could commence immediately. I look forward to the Minister of State's response.

Deputy John Curran

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, who wishes to thank the Senator for the opportunity to inform the House of the current position on the Raphoe pre-feasibility flood study. The Minister of State is pleased to say the study has been completed and identified a number of possible options aimed at addressing the flood problem in Raphoe. As the Senator knows, Donegal County Council considers Raphoe to be one of the most persistent and problematic flood areas in County Donegal. It has flooded repeatedly in the past 30 years but most significantly in September 2006 and June 2007. Following flash flooding on 12 June 2007, numerous homes and businesses sustained damage when the town's drainage system was overwhelmed by rain. The Minister of State understands approximately 50 business and residential premises were affected.

Following this event, the OPW, in conjunction with Donegal County Council, appointed consultants to carry out the pre-feasibility study of the flooding problem in Raphoe. The study was completed in August 2009. In parallel with this study, OPW engineers were in consultation with Donegal County Council and, as a result, a number of short-term measures to alleviate the problem were identified and implemented by the council.

The objective of a pre-feasibility study is to identify the source of the flooding problem and potentially viable flood risk management measures for a given area. In the case of Raphoe, this included the collection and examination of hydrological and hydraulic data, outline flood hazard and risk mapping and, following the identification of potentially suitable flood risk management options, a technical, economic and outline environmental assessment of these potential options.

Raphoe is surrounded to the north and west by steep-sided hills and a small, predominately culverted stream flows in a southerly direction through the town. This stream is a small tributary within the Foyle catchment, draining an area around Raphoe of approximately 2.7 sq. km. The report found that during periods of intense rainfall, water was quickly conveyed onto the road network surrounding Raphoe. The volume of water and the associated high velocities mean that the majority of the run-off water flows unimpeded into central Raphoe along the road network.

The report has also identified a number of potentially suitable flood risk management options that require further detailed elaboration. Towards this end, OPW officials are meeting the council on Friday, 5 February. The next step will be the development of an outline design for the option considered to be the most technically feasible and economically viable.

The Minister of State wishes to assure the House that his officials, in conjunction with the local authority, are at an advanced stage in the identification of appropriate flood relief measures that will alleviate future flooding in the Raphoe area. Once the appropriate measures have been agreed by the OPW and the local authority, the OPW will be available to assist in ensuring these are implemented at the earliest possible date.