Some communities could be waiting a decade for flood relief schemes – Taoiseach 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin admitted communities experiencing devastating flooding could be waiting over a decade for flood relief schemes to be developed. As the East and South East of the country braces for torrential rainfall with homeowners and business on high alert for flooding in the coming 24 hours, the Taoiseach said there is no quick solution. 

Asked specifically by the Irish Independent about serious flooding in South Galway which is now awaiting a decision in relation to its third revised proposal since 2009, he acknowledged “some of them are too slow.” 

“They (flood relief schemes) are very long. They are very complex, many of them, but some of them are taking too long to bring to fruition, to bring to conclusion and to make decisions. 

“They are not simple. and I don’t mean that as just a cliché. 

“Flood relief schemes involve a lot. There’s a lot of directives, environmental directives that have to be adhered to or circumvented or, at least, the challenges of those.

“I saw that in Enniscorthy. But I’ve met with Minister Kevin Moran on this.

“And we’re going to do everything we can to accelerate these flood relief schemes and Get decisions made and submit them. 

“As I said, there’s about 100, and at various stages, I’m conscious that one you’ve mentioned hasn’t yet come to finalisation and conclusion.

“But also, I do think we need to look more at the interim solutions as well.

“Because on average, some of these schemes are taking 11 years.

“And the weather is changing fairly rapidly, too.

“Given the complex nature of the engineering involved you are not going to get it all done in a year, I’ll put it that way to you.

“By definition, these are schemes that take some time, but we have to do more of the interim side, and we can do a lot on the interim side.” 

“This week has been a very challenging week on the flooding front. 

“I appreciate the work and the cooperation between county councils in terms of ensuring that those that are in the front line are getting supports and getting assistance to make sure  they can deal with what are very, very elevated levels of rainfall across the country, particularly in the Southeast.”

Mr Martin said the current high water levels  haven’t been experienced “for quite some time.” 

“It is dramatically higher than what we would have experienced last year, for example.

“And that continues to be the case, and the next few days will be critical and crucial for quite a number of locations.”

Eavan Murray