Minister Moran announces details of €3 million funding to remove river conveyance blockages
Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran TD, has announced details of a once-off €3 million funding package for local authorities towards removal of river conveyance blockages and the extension of the scope and scale of the OPW’s Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme (the Minor Works Scheme).
The OPW Minor Works Scheme has been available since 2009, and is part of the Government’s response to managing flood risk. The purpose of the demand-led Scheme is to provide funding to Local Authorities to undertake minor flood mitigation works, or studies to address localised flooding and coastal protection problems within their administrative areas.
Since its introduction in 2009, some €70 million has been approved under the Scheme for 930 local authority led projects that are delivering flood mitigation and coastal protection for some 8,000 properties.
While the revised Minor Works Scheme can provide funding to address these restrictions, the allocation of €3 million in funding to local authorities to expedite their efforts to remove river conveyance blockages.
This once-off allocation can be used to fund the immediate removal of blockages from locations such as river crossings, bridges or culverts and that are causing a restriction to rivers which pose an immediate risk to flooding of properties.
A once-off allocation of €60,000 has been allocated to Westmeath County Council, as well as €70,000 to Roscommon County Council for the removal of river conveyance blockages.
Speaking on the announcement, Minister Moran said: "I've seen from Storm Chandra a lot of local authorities [had flooding] when debris came down, got stuck, and caused huge problems. We are lucky in Westmeath because the OPW do the arterial draining in the local area. We have machines on site.
"The works that we've done along the Shannon are almost completed. I am pushing to have that work done by the end of the year. Where there's blockages and problems, we need to know about them, and we will address them."
Minister Moran concluded: "The improvements to the Minor Works Scheme, in addition to the €3 million in funding will support the essential work undertaken by Local Authorities to address localised flooding and coastal erosion problems.
"I encourage Local Authorities to avail of both initiatives and today’s announcement is a further demonstration of how this Government remains committed to supporting Local Authorities to manage the flood and coastal erosion risks in their areas”.