Frequently Asked Questions

A: The National Development Plan 2018-2027 commits to almost €1 billion in funding for flood relief schemes, with annual Capital funding for flood relief for the OPW doubling to €100m by 2021. 

This is the best available information as of May 2021.
 

A: For the design and implementation of flood relief schemes, OPW’s preferred approach is to adopt a “Managed Adaptive Approach”.

This means that provision is made in the design of the scheme in the present day to allow it to be adapted or enhanced in the future to address climate change. The advantage of the “managed adaptive approach” is that it allows for future learning about the climate to inform on the design of flood mitigation measures for future climate scenarios. The most technically, environmentally and economically viable flood protection scheme that addresses future flood risk can therefore be implemented at the appropriate point in time in the future.  

The scheme will defend against the present-day flood risk and will be built to be adaptable to future climate change.

A: Natural Flood Management (NFM) measures will be considered during the Optioneering stage of the scheme.

A: The Office of Public Works has no responsibility for oversight or regulation of the insurance industry in relation to flood risk insurance, or to insurance matters generally. However, the Government’s strategy is that in return to its investment in flood defence schemes in the most at risk communities, households and businesses should be able to access flood insurance.

The OPW has a role to assist insurance companies to take into account the protection provided by completed flood defence schemes. In this regard, the OPW has a Memorandum of Understanding with Insurance Ireland, the representative body of the insurance industry. This Memorandum sets out principles of how the two organisations work together to ensure that appropriate and relevant information on these completed schemes is provided to insurers to facilitate, to the greatest extent possible, the availability to the public of insurance against the risk of flooding. Insurance Ireland members have committed to take into account all information provided by the OPW when assessing exposure to flood risk within the protected areas.

The Department of Finance and the OPW meet with Insurance Ireland on a quarterly basis to address issues in relation to this transfer of data.  It is important to note that while the Memorandum requires that insurers take full account of information provided by the OPW on completed flood defence schemes, it does not guarantee the availability of flood risk cover in the locations for which information has been provided. The provision of insurance cover, the level of premiums charged, and the policy terms applied are a matter for individual insurers based on the risk that they would be willing to accept on a case by case basis. 

Insurance related complaints or queries, mad be directed to Insurance Ireland's Insurance Information Service (01 676 1820 or feedback@insuranceireland.eu).  In addition, the Financial Services Ombudsman (01 567 7000) deals independently with unresolved complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with all financial service providers.

A: No, this will be a key consideration in our design. We will consider the impacts on the area as a whole, rather than focusing on the places that have flooded, to ensure that any works completed as part of this scheme do not increase the flood risk to surrounding lands.

A: You can look at the flood maps on the OPW's CFRAM website to see the flood extents for Galway City and other towns within the CFRAM study area https://www.floodinfo.ie/map/floodmaps/

A: The existing scheme area is comprised of primarily the Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) programme Area for Further Assessment   (AFA) with some amendments to include coastline offset, the Sruffnacashlaun Stream (known flood risk issues) and Mutton Island (Wave OverTopping – Irish Water Critical Asset). The Galway City Area for Further Assessment (AFA) was identified through a scoping phase called the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment (PFRA), which was a requirement of the EU ‘Floods’ Directive. The OPW used three sources of information to designate AFAs:

1.         Historic information on floods that happened in the past.
2.         Public consultation to gain local and expert knowledge from Local Authorities and other Government departments and agencies to identify areas prone to flooding and the potential consequences.
3.         Engineering techniques to analyse potential damage that could be caused by flooding.

Further details (PFRA Main report and AFA Final Designation Report | Published March 2012) can be obtained from https://www.floodinfo.ie/about_frm/pfra/.

In addition, OPW’s past floods database does not indicate significant flood risk to areas outside of the Scheme Area (including Knocknacarra). However, National Indicative Fluvial Mapping (NIFM) flood extent mapping for the 1% AEP indicates some flooding on the Barna Stream. Any properties at risk from this watercourse appears to be just outside the Galway City administrative boundary. 

The Irish Water Drainage Area Plan (DAP) will address flooding from the foul drainage network.