Harris considers flood defence options for 300 areas

Options for flood prevention in up to 300 areas along the Shannon and elsewhere and have been outlined by Minister of State for the OPW Simon Harris.

In advance of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting on flood defences Mr Harris said the emerging strategy may include cleaning and maintenance of watercourses, grant aid for “flood gates” on individual houses, engineered flood defences around towns and even flooding used bogs.

Mr Harris said more rain had fallen since the beginning of December than normally falls all Winter, in December, January and February combined. December was the wettest on record and he said “as far as I know it was the wettest November too”.

The Minister was speaking after he and Taoiseach Enda Kenny were briefed on the floods by the National Coordination Group.

Mr Harris said the full extent of damage to roads, culverts, bridges and property would not become apparent until flood waters subside. However he said the €8m initially allocated to local authorities by the Department of Environment would not be enough.

He said the Red Cross were distributing a €5million fund for business and there was a humanitarian aid programme administered by the department of Social Protection amounting to about €10 million, both of which seemed so far to be adequate. But he said the local authorities had spent €6million by last week, a figure which indicated that €8million was almost certainly not enough.

“It is highly likely that is going to be increased” he said. While it was not possible at this stage to say how much would be spent he said the Government “would not be found wanting”.

While Wednesday night was forecast to bring more heavy falls of rain, the coordination group was now also assessing what impact a return to “more normal” weather conditions might have on land that was saturated.

In relation to future flood defences he said a total of 300 areas across the State had been identified as “vulnerable” including 66 on the Shannon and all of these would require some level of defence.

Before Tuesday afternoon’s Cabinet meeting the Taoiseach and other relevant ministers are to get reports from agencies involved in the maintenance of the Shannon, including the OPW, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Inland Fisheries, Waterways Ireland and local authorities. The agencies have been asked to identify “an annual and ongoing programme of maintenance work” to remove blockages in the river system.

He said he expected a decision on setting up a long range flood forecasting unit to supplement the work of Met Éireann to be taken at the Cabinet meeting. He said the move would require an increase in staff at Met Éireann and “a slight increase “ in number of Office of Public Works (OPW) staff .

The next step would be to have the catchment flood risk assessment and management plans in place by mid-year, but he warned it was unlikely that “a one size fits all” solution would be found for the 300 areas involved.

“Where engineering solutions are possible” such solution “will be published by summer”, he said.

“The next challenge” was where no heavy engineering solutions were possible, he said. Mr Harris said there were two possibilities for people affected. The first possibility was for Government to put in place a grant system for homeowners to individually protect their own homes . Items covered would be flood walls or gates which would be grant aided “much like the way Government grant aided people to insulate their own homes.”

But he said in some cases people whose homes were flooding on a regular basis were saying they wanted to get out permanently. “In some cases relocation is likely. The Government isn’t in the business of telling people to move house but in some cases where people want to move, and where there isn’t a viable solution, I think that is a very serious option which we will have to look at.”

Mr Harris said the option of pumping floodwaters to dried bogs had been previously criticised but would be examined scientifically. He also said the potential use of former navigation canals bypassing towns including Athlone on the Shannon would be raised by him when agencies brief the Taoiseach on Tuesday morning.