Minister Moran announces location for 40 Pumps and Barriers to assist Local Authorities to manage response to localised flood events.

Mr. Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran TD, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, today announced that Sligo, Galway City, Mallow, Cavan, and Portlaoise have been designated as the five locations to receive 20 pumps and mobile water-filled flood barriers (aqua-dams) to supplement local authorities’ emergency equipment stocks.

The Minister said that these locations will make this new emergency response equipment available to all parts of the country. Local Authorities’ management of these barriers and pumps will provide them with the agility and flexibility to further improve their response to flood events.

Following Storm Chandra, earlier this year, that affected the East and South East of the country, the Government tasked the OPW with procuring pumps and mobile water-filled flood barriers to supplement local authorities’ emergency equipment stocks.

The OPW has worked closely with the County and City Management Association (CCMA) and the market, to inform the acquisition of this equipment.

The OPW published a tender competition for the pumps and barriers over the summer and the tender evaluations are currently being finalised.

The Minister said it is expected that the frameworks to draw down this equipment will be in place and available to the local authorities by November 2026.

The Minister said that while the OPW has sourced these barriers and pumps, they will be managed by the local authorities, and the equipment will be made available for deployment by local authorities nationally.

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OPW Flood Relief Schemes – Editors Notes

• Flood relief schemes are implemented in five stages. They are large, complex, multiannual projects that face a variety of issues and challenges, many of which are neither predictable nor within the OPW’s control. These can include issues relating to ground conditions, timelines for consultations and planning decisions or a limited capacity within the engineering consultancy market. These challenges impact the timeline for flood relief schemes’ delivery, which can take up to ten years to design, develop and construct.
• The Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme is the most in depth study ever undertaken on flood risk in Ireland. Completed in 2018, the programme studied flood risk for two-thirds of the population against their risk of flooding from rivers and the sea.
• This work underpins the OPW’s approach to designing and constructing flood relief schemes for communities most at-risk and is supported through the National Development Plan.
• To date, 57 completed flood relief schemes are providing protection to some 13,640 properties and an economic benefit to the State in damages and losses avoided estimated to be in the region of some €2 billion nationwide.
• A full list of the completed schemes is here.
• Since 2018, the number of flood relief schemes at the design, planning, and construction stage has trebled to some 100 flood relief schemes. This is a result of the NDP investment that has enabled the OPW, in partnership with the local authorities, to progress this work.
• This means that the Government has completed or work is currently underway to protect 80% of properties at risk, based on the CFRAM Programme.
• At all times, the OPW strives to expedite and progress capital flood relief works with the minimum delay within the resources available to it.

A full list of schemes and further information is available on the www.floodinfo.ie website. All major schemes progressed since 2018 have individual websites. These provide relevant scheme information including timelines and budgets to the public.