PAC hears calls for flood defence approval process to be fast-tracked

Members of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have called for the flood defences approval process to be fast-tracked and streamlined, with one TD highlighting how people are “living in fear” of the next flood.

There was criticism at the PAC of the pace of delivery of flood relief schemes and questions raised about the part played by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPER).

The department has a regulatory role in the approvals process for flood relief schemes which involves getting advice from technical external experts after judicial reviews before the plans can be progressed.

Fine Gael Cork North-Central TD Colm Burke said it was taking an average of 10 to 12 years to deliver flood relief schemes, and asked DPER secretary general David Moloney what could be done to expedite this.

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Mr Moloney said flood projects “are subject to very complex, multilayered considerations”, and there were national and European laws that must be complied with. “Where they’ve been proposed they’re frequently subject to judicial review, and it has been very challenging to gain acceptance of flood relief projects.”

He said the Minister for Public Expenditure was responsible for a consent process in relation to certain projects delivered by the Office of Public Works (OPW) under the Arterial Drainage Acts. These were not the majority of flood relief projects, many of which are delivered by local authorities.

Mr Buke raised the case of a planned OPW scheme to prevent flooding in Blackpool in Cork which was referred to DPER after a judicial review. He put it to Mr Moloney that his department “sat on that file for 15 months and…now all the environmental studies done are out of date and have to be redone”.

Mr Moloney said the project was delayed in the first instance by the judicial review and “when it came back to us…we had to hire external consultants then to respond to the issues that are raised”. He insisted “there is no sitting on files”.

Mayo TD Alan Dillion raised delays that have hit the Crossmolina flood relief scheme, saying “the community are waiting up to eight years living in fear and anxiety of when the next flood will happen”.

Mr Moloney said DPER has sought additional information from the OPW on the scheme in recent months, adding “I absolutely accept that it’s a slow…process but we are subject to national and EU law.”

Mr Dillion asked how the process could be streamlined.

Mr Moloney said: “We understand that these things are taking too long” but said issues like judicial review and public consultation “aren’t within our control”.

His said his department looks at its role “and the time we take to process things all the time” with a view to “making sure that’s as little time as possible”.

Cork East TD James O’Connor said parts of his constituency were “absolutely annihilated by flooding” after a recent storm. There have been “very serious questions raised” in the town of Midleton around the pace of delivering a flood relief scheme.

He said the damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure would amount to “an eye-watering sum of money” and suggested “a lot of that could have been prevented, particularly in Midleton, if the flood defences were advanced”.

Mr Moloney said: “We absolutely appreciate the damage that’s done by flooding and the need to put in place adequate flood defences, and we have provided €1.3billion in the 10-year National Development Plan [NDP]… for that, which may eventually not be enough”. He said the “challenge is actually delivering the schemes”.