Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 28 Feb 2001

Vol. 531 No. 4

Written Answers. - Flood Warnings.

Austin Currie

Ceist:

132 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider ways in which early warning of flooding could be transmitted to local authorities, emergency services and individuals likely to be affected; if such a service could be accompanied by research relevant to the local area, such as Lucan, County Dublin, which are prone to flooding which would constitute flood risk mapping; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6086/01]

The Office of Public Works is commencing immediately on the first phase of a programme of flood risk mapping for the whole country and in that regard will be contacting all local authorities in the near future requesting details of the flooding incidences within their jurisdictional areas. The information thus collected will be used to form the basis of an historical flooding map of the country.

The second phase of the flood risk mapping programme will involve the collection and inter pretation of hydrological and other specialist data on areas identified as being prone to flooding and determining the probabilities of the risk of and extent of flooding in those areas. This will require,inter alia, considerable research, amassing and assembling sufficient data to establish the causes of flooding and understanding the mechanisms which contribute to flooding in each particular area. It is only when these factors have been identified that consideration can be given to seeing if localised early warning systems, specific to each location, can be devised to alert local authorities, emergency services and individuals likely to be impacted by flooding.
Barr
Roinn