Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Office of Public Works (OPW), as the lead agency for flood risk management, is coordinating the delivery of measures towards meeting the Government’s National Flood Risk Policy. A broad range of structural and non-structural measures have already been implemented to address flood risk under an approach structured around three pillars: prevention, protection and preparedness.

The OPW engages with other departments and state agencies through a variety of groups. Focusing on the ‘protection’ pillar, in particular, key groups include the Shannon Flood Risk State Agency Co-ordination Working Group, the Interdepartmental Flood Policy Co-ordination Group, and the National ‘Floods’ Directive Co-ordination Group. I will outline the work of each of these groups in brief.

In 2016, the Government established the Shannon Flood Risk State Agency Co-ordination Working Group to improve co-ordination between all state agencies involved with the River Shannon and to introduce coordinated flood risk solutions. The Group coordinates the work of all the members to maximise flood risk mitigation. The Group meets bi-annually and last met on 10 April 2024.

To add to the overall flood protection from flood relief schemes, the Group produces an annual Work Programme that demonstrates the extensive work and co-ordination by all State bodies to jointly and proactively help address flood risk on the Shannon under the following themes of activity: physical works, maintenance, water management, regulatory, policy and planning. The Group is currently progressing a number of collaborative initiatives including a planned programme of strategic maintenance works. The Group has developed a new website to provide comprehensive information about the work being done by State Agencies to mitigate flooding on the River Shannon. The website is available at rivershannongroup.ie.

The Interdepartmental Flood Policy Co-ordination Group, chaired by the OPW, is a whole-of-Government cross-sectoral Group that co-ordinates national flood policy development and implementation. The purpose of the Group is to have regard to the extent of non-structural solutions that are informing the implementation strategy of the 2018 Flood Risk Management Plans and to ensure that policies that can benefit communities and individuals directly are carefully considered.

The Group is progressing a wide range of significant policy initiatives, including avoiding construction in flood-prone areas, protecting at-risk communities against their significant flood risk, and planning for responding to reduce the impacts of flood events on communities and individuals. Many actions identified are now being implemented by the relevant Departments and Offices. The Group typically meets twice per annum and last met on 23 November 2023, and a further meeting is due to be held shortly.

The National ‘Floods’ Directive Co-ordination Group was established in 2018 to follow on from the National Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme Steering Group, which held its final meeting in June 2018 following the publication of the Flood Risk Management Plans and the completion of the National CFRAM Programme.

The purpose of the Group is to facilitate a coordinated, whole-of-Government approach to the implementation of the Floods Directive in Ireland. The Group typically meets twice per annum and last met on 29 November 2023, and a further meeting is due to be held shortly.