‘Boxer’ welcomes completion of flood works on Athlone road
Local Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer' Moran has welcomed the completion of works to address persistent flooding on a road at Garnafailagh in Athlone.
'Boxer' said the works were carried out recently on "the road between Colm Quinn BMW and Coosan National School", as this was "a road with a lot of traffic on it which has been getting flooded for the last four or five years, and it was getting worse every year".
The works involved road resurfacing, along with the the installation of gullies and a 300mm drainage pipe. 'Boxer' has responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW) which provided €18,000 in funding towards the project.
He said he had been working closely with his ally on Westmeath County Council, Cllr John Gibbons, to ensure the work was carried out and he also expressed gratitude to Westmeath County Council Engineer Denis Sloyan for his assistance with the project.
The funding for the project was provided through the OPW's Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme, and 'Boxer' said he had talks with Westmeath County Council last week about putting a similar scheme in place for the L-1427 road between Baylin and Mount Temple.
A sinkhole on the Baylin to Mount Temple road reopened just under two years ago and there have been road closures and temporary traffic lights put in place on the road in the period since then.
"The road is close to the Twyford river and there is an issue with fluvial flooding underneath that road," said 'Boxer'.
"There's schools in the area, the Caulry GAA pitch, and local farmers and businesspeople using that road regularly, so it is a huge source of frustration to people.
"We had a meeting last Friday with the council and I'm hoping the OPW can support the council with a minor works scheme for that area."
The Government recently published a climate change adaptation plan for flood risk management, which updated a previous plan from 2019 by using newly-available information on climate change and its potential impacts, as well as developments in flood risk management since 2019.
'Boxer', who provided the foreword for the report, stated: "This plan sets out a clear pathway for strengthening Ireland's resilience to the impacts of climate change on flooding and flood risk, as well as flood risk management.
"The plan identifies 27 adaptation actions needed to ensure effective and sustainable management of flood risk into the future.
"These actions cover the key areas of flood risk prevention, protection, preparedness and resilience, as well as the development of a sound evidence base and capacity building."
Nationally, some 100 flood relief schemes are at the design or construction stage, with the Government due to provide €1.3 billion towards the delivery of these schemes by 2030.