Flood plan works still a long way off

PROPOSALS to develop flood prevention measures for areas of Co Louth at risk from sea or iver flooding are still a long way off, members of Louth County Council heard during a presentation on the Neagh Bann and Eastern CFRAM Draft Flood Management Study.

Mr Aidan Harney of the OPW said that CFRAM was the largest study of its kind ever done and included a large amount of work collecting data and building hydrologic models.

They were reaching the final stage of the first phase of the process and Co Louth was covered by two plans - the Neagh Bann area included Carlingford and Greenore, Dundalk and Blackrock South, Annagassan, Ardee and Termonfeckin. Drogheda and Baltray were covered in the Boyne catchment area.

In order to prepare for a one in a hundred year event which need hard defences which are robust and can stand a really big flow.

Once the plans have been finalised they will become national policy and €430million has been allocated for the plans.

He warned that it would take time before they reach the construction stage, as it had taken five years to get to the current stage.

‘ There is still a long way to go before we get to construction,’ he said, as there was another phase to complete before construction begins. He warned that stage would take months rather than days or weeks and that a cost benefit analysis would be applied nationally.

Cllr Mark Dearey wanted to know if there was any provision in the plans for raising sea levels as opposed to flooding from rivers. He was concerned that higher sea levels in future would overtake what’s proposed.

Mr Harney told Cllrs Dearey and Corrigan that it was unlikely that Brexit would have any major impact on the proposed solutions.