The Office of Public Works approved funding of €270,000 to Roscommon County Council in June 2010 under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme to undertake flood alleviation works in Athleague, Co. Roscommon. Under the scheme local authorities are responsible for the planning, procurement, detailed financial management and day-to-day implementation of the works.
I am advised that, before undertaking works, the Council engaged a firm of Consulting Engineers to study and assess the catchment of the River Suck in the vicinity of Athleague and to recommend flood alleviation measures.
The following works were undertaken by the Council:
- Site investigation works,
- The clearance of existing drainage channels within the village, particularly to the north of the main street,
- The reinstatement of a drainage channel between the Creamery and old Church (now a craft centre) just west of the Suck River bridge,
- The clearance of two existing large diameter pipes, just to the east of the Suck River bridge,
- Accommodation works connected with the reconstruction of the Silver Stream under existing walls, and tree cutting and removal.
I am advised that the Council did not proceed with the construction of a diversion weir and channel upstream of Castlestrange bridge as the report it commissioned prior to works commencing concluded that this would not provide an appropriate level of flood protection to Athleague. The flood level of the River Suck within Athleague is significantly influenced by the backwater effect from capacity restrictions within the existing channel of the river and the proposed works upstream of Athleague would not have alleviated this.
Regarding insurance, I am aware of the difficulties some people are experiencing in securing insurance cover for flood risk at affordable prices or at all. It must be acknowledged that the provision of new flood cover or the renewal of existing flood cover is a commercial matter for insurance companies based on their assessment of the risks they are accepting. These are generally considered on a case-by-case basis and an insurance company cannot be compelled to accept a particular insurance risk. The Irish Insurance Federation say that insurers try to provide flood cover wherever possible but that flood insurance is sometimes not economically viable.
In March 2012, I had a very constructive engagement with the insurance industry about the scope and scale of the work undertaken by the OPW on flood risk management, on the alleviation schemes being undertaken in many of our large cities and towns and, in particular, on the mapping of areas subject to flood risk nationally which will emerge from the CFRAM programme.
I indicated then that I wished to see an agreement reached as quickly as possible between the OPW and the IIF on a sustainable system of information sharing particularly for locations vulnerable to flooding and for identifying flood alleviation schemes and works completed and where the standard of protection afforded by these works could be verified.
A working group has been established between OPW, the IIF and representatives of several insurance companies to progress the work in this area in order that the insurance industry can be better informed as to the extent of the OPW's investment in flood protection measures over the last decades and to ensure that that investment is taken into account in assessing flood risk for insurance purposes.
