As Chairman of the Office of Public Works, I am grateful to the committee for being given an opportunity to bring members up to date on recent developments in the area of flood risk management. I am accompanied by my colleague, Mr. Tony Smyth, director of engineering services and chief engineer of the Office of Public Works.
I use this opportunity to express my deep sympathy to all those who have been and continue to be affected by the devastating flooding experienced at the end of 2009. Having visited a number of locations in counties Limerick and Clare I saw at first hand some of the damage and hardship suffered. Those exceptional events have reinforced the strategies being implemented by OPW to address flood risk issues.
I know the committee wishes to focus on matters relating to the River Shannon but much of what I have to say applies equally to all the other national river catchments.
It might be useful if I commence our appearance before the committee with a brief review of the recent operational context for OPW in flood management and then outline where we will proceed in the next five years.
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. As the lead agency for flood risk management, the OPW's strategy for the management of flood risks is founded on that report, approved by the Government in September 2004. A primary element to deliver on this strategy is the catchment flood risk management and assessment, CFRAM, programme. This programme commenced with pilot studies on the rivers Lee, Dodder and Suir and the Fingal East Meath area. The objective is to complete the programme nationally to meet the requirements of the EU floods directive, which requires that the level of flood risk in each catchment, including that of the River Shannon, should be identified and that a prioritised plan of measures be drawn up to address the risk in areas where it is significant. The OPW will take the lead co-ordinating role in carrying out these studies.
The CFRAM studies are comprehensive catchment-based studies, which focus on and identify areas at risk from flood events for a range of severity and on the production of a prioritised plan of measures, including the non-structural, and actions for dealing with areas where the flood risk is significant. The Lee CFRAMS is the primary pilot project for the national CFRAM programme within Ireland. Among the stated objectives for it are: to assess flood risk, through the identification of flood hazard areas and the associated impacts of flooding; to identify viable structural and non-structural measures and options for managing the flood risks for localised high-risk areas and within the catchment as a whole; and to prepare a strategic catchment flood risk management plan, CFRMP, and associated strategic environmental assessment, SEA, that sets out the measures and policies that should be pursued by local authorities and the OPW to achieve the most cost effective and sustainable management of flood risk within the Lee catchment.
Where flood risks are significant the study has identified a range of potential flood risk management options to manage these risks, including structural options, for example, flood walls and embankments, and non-structural options such as flood forecasting and development control. The CFRMP does not aim to provide solutions to all of the flooding problems that exist in a catchment which would be neither feasible nor sustainable. What it does is to identify viable structural and non-structural options for managing the flood risks within the catchment as a whole and for localised high-risk areas.
The draft plan for the River Lee catchment study was almost complete when these devastating floods occurred in Cork. The value of the CFRAM studies is that they clearly identify all areas within the catchment at flood risk through detailed flood maps, and set out a framework of proactive and co-ordinated actions to address these flood risks across the entire catchment. This medium-term framework, or flood risk management plan, includes a detailed programme of measures planned for various locations, along with an indicative expenditure budget for its implementation across the catchment. This enables the OPW, local authorities and other relevant stakeholders to identify exactly which works and resources to implement in the areas where they are most needed in an efficient, cost-effective and strategic manner. The measures included in the flood risk management plans are underpinned by robust technical and economic analyses. Once the flood risk management plan has been prepared, informed planning decisions can be made, and works such as flood relief schemes, flood forecasting systems and so on, can be taken forward without the need for further justification or extensive additional analysis.
I mention the role of the OPW in major flood events. The OPW has several critical functions, which must in so far as possible be completed. We are not a front line response agency, but the resources of the OPW are made available to emergency services on request. Our primary functions during a flood event are to ensure that all critical OPW flood defence measures are operational and to collect hydrological data sets.
The fundamental principles of the EU floods directive requires the State to put in place a system to assess and manage existing and future risk. The targets for the assessment phase are set out in the directive but each member state must develop its own approach to management. 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 regarding the assessment and management of flood risk in the State. It will provide a statutory basis for co-ordination of management of flood risk across all bodies and agencies. The relevant statutory instrument is currently with the Minister for Finance for signature.
A comprehensive management programme for the River Shannon is being addressed through the CFRAM programme, under the direction of the OPW. The Shannon CFRAM study, which will commence in mid-2010, will involve consultation with all the main stakeholders, including the public, the ESB, Waterways Ireland, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Heritage Council, local authorities and representative organisations. Organisational stakeholders will be involved in all the national studies through a stakeholder group. They are represented in the studies on an ongoing basis to ensure they have an opportunity to make an input into the process. The public will be consulted at regular intervals during the studies. People will have a formal opportunity to make submissions on the key outcomes — the maps and framework management plans. Strategic environmental and habitats directive assessments are an integral part of the CFRAM study process, as is co-ordination on implementation of the water framework directive.
The extreme floods that occurred in November 2009 had a severe impact on several towns and communities in the Shannon catchment. It must be recognised that the farming community in the Shannon callows has suffered flooding over several years during much smaller flood events. The CFRAM process will examine how we can address this issue. Previous reports examined various schemes for this area. We will now be in a position, in consultation with key stakeholders, to examine potential measures to mitigate the flood risk in the area. Pending completion of the study for the Shannon catchment, the OPW, through its minor works schemes, will work with the relevant local authorities to identify areas that may benefit from interim localised mitigation measures. The OPW recently invited applications for funding for such measures from local authorities, subject to specific economic and environmental criteria. A decision on funding applications for localised mitigation measures that have been submitted by local authorities will be made shortly. I understand that more than 20 local authorities have made submissions under this scheme. The OPW and Galway County Council have established a joint working group in County Galway. It has identified several areas, including parts of the Shannon catchment, on which it will focus its attention initially.
The 2010 budgetary provision for the OPW's flood relief activities, capital works, drainage maintenance and hydrometric activities has been increased to €68.3 million. This is a significant increase on the provision of recent years. During the six years to 2009, the OPW has invested €130 million in capital flood relief projects, with a further €112 million being spent on drainage maintenance and hydrometric programmes. Major flood relief schemes involve complex engineering and construction operations and invariably have lengthy lead-in times. Variations in the timelines and associated expenditure on such major engineering projects can arise for a variety of reasons, including adverse weather conditions, archaeological finds or other local environmental or ecological issues.
On maintenance of rivers and channels, it has been suggested on several occasions that this issue contributed to the recent flood events. It is the OPW's opinion that the magnitude of the events was such that additional maintenance would not have contributed significantly to mitigation of the damage that arose. Maintenance is effective in maintaining the conveyance capacity of the river channel. It reduces the frequency and duration of lower return period floods. I thank the committee for its attention and for the opportunity to set out the OPW's responsibilities in respect of flood risk management.