Brendan Smith presses for Minor Works flood funding
Brendan Smith urged expanded funding for the Minor Works Programme to tackle repeated flooding in his counties of Cavanagh and Monaghan, pressing for rapid approval of applications that would cost under €300,000 and benefit up to 60 households. He called on the Department and the OPW to speed up delivery while stressing close local engagement between councils and the OPW.
Minor Works Programme plea
Brendan Smith asked that the Minor Works Programme be expanded, noting many flooding incidents on smaller streams and rivers because much of his county is not covered by the Arterial Drainage Act of 1945. He said additional funding would allow remedial works that transform daily life for affected households, especially in winter.
Local authority responsibility and OPW scheme
The minister replied that local flooding matters are primarily for each local authority to investigate and address - in this case Cavanagh and Monaghan County Councils. He outlined that local authorities may carry out mitigation works using their own resources or by applying to the OPW under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme.
Scheme rules, funding limits and assessment
The OPW scheme considers projects estimated to cost no more than €750,000 and can fund up to 90% of approved project costs. Applications are assessed by the OPW against economic, social and environmental criteria including a cost-benefit ratio, and the scheme is demand-led based on local authority submissions.
Local need, costed request and follow-up
Brendan Smith said Cavan County Council identified 11 urgent sites with a total OPW cost of less than €300,000 that would benefit up to 60 households, some of whom must leave their homes in winter. A deputy minister stressed he could not make on-the-floor commitments but urged local engineering engagement with the OPW and offered to follow up on specific cases; Smith reiterated that Cavan County Council already has a good working relationship with OPW and asked for speedy progression of applications.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Cahirle, could I just take the opportunity to wish the ministers well, the ministers in the Department of Public Expenditure well in their important work. As we all know, in recent years there have been increased incidents of flooding causing major problems for households and landowners. Unfortunately, my own two counties of Cavanagh and Monaghan have been adversely impacted on many, many occasions. The Minor Works Programme, which provides some funding to local territories to carry out remedial works, is of great benefit and it's a programme that I would like to see expanded. So, Minister, very little of my county is included under the Arteria Drainage Act of 1945. So, it shows that we have more incidents of flooding on single, smaller streams and rivers. So, I would like to see, if at all possible, additional funding being provided for the Minor Works Programme. Thank you, Cahirleach. Thanks, Cahirleach. And I want to thank Deputy Smith for his kind wishes. And I know that in my previous role in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, he routinely asks similar questions to the one that he has asked today, so I look forward to working with him. And I am advised that the local flooding issues are a matter in the first instance for each local authority to investigate and address. In this case, it would be Cavanagh and Monaghan County Councils. All local authorities may carry out flood mitigation works using either their own resources or by applying for funding under the Office of Public Works, Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme. Under this scheme, applications are considered for projects that are estimated to cost no more than €750,000 in each case. Funding of up to 90% of the cost is available for approved projects. Applications are assessed by the OPW, having a regard to specific economic, social and environmental criteria of the scheme, including a cost-benefit ratio and having regard to the availability of funding for flood risk management. Details of it are available on our website. The scheme is a demand-led scheme and is based on the applications received from local authorities, based on the authority's assessment of individual projects within their areas. The OPW works in close collaboration with all local authorities and offers any advice required to assist in the determination of the projects. The allocation of funding for Minor Work Scheme is included in the overall allocation for flood risk management investment, included under Vote 13 of the Office of Public Works in the Estimates for Public Services for 2020. I thank the Minister for his response. And, Cairo, could I just say that the Cavern County Council have identified 11 sites that need urgent attention. And, Minister, the overall cost of the OPW, if you could ensure that the applications are approved, is less than €300,000. And, actually, up to 60 households would benefit from such improvement works or remedial works. Some people have to leave their homes at some stages during the wintertime. Other people don't have access to their homes or to the farms. So, up to 60 households are directly affected and would have their lives literally transformed from going about their daily business, particularly in wintertime, if these remedial works were undertaken. And, I think, Minister, you will agree that less than €300,000 of public expenditure to benefit up to 60 families would be a good return. And, try and ensure that those people have some normality during the winter months. Thank you. Deputy Minister, please. Thanks, Samir. Deputy, I don't disagree with most of what you said. And, I'm sure you will pre-state that I can't make commitments on the floor of the Dáil in relation to the expending of OPW money. But, what I do go back to is, and what I would urge, and, I suppose, for my own time, both as a County Councillor and as a backpincher, and, indeed, as a Minister of State in two Government departments up to now, would have said that the engagement between the local authority and the OPW at a local level is crucial in terms of advancing the cases which you referred to, and there are others as well, you do make an interesting point in relation to the particular element of Cavan, that it is susceptible to flooding, but yet a lot of the County is not included in the Arterial Drainage Act. It was for that reason, I think, and I know the Deputy will appreciate it, that the scheme that he's referring to is of such importance. And, I think that, in order to advance these, and other cases that Deputy Smith might have, both for Cavan and for Monaghan, the most important thing is that engagement would take place between the local engineering staff of the councils and the OPW. And, if there are particular issues that Deputy Smith wants to bring to my attention, I will follow up with the OPW directly for him. Thank you, Minister. Could I just say that Cavan County Council and their officials have an excellent relationship with the officials of OPW, and I have attended meetings myself along with other public representatives between the council and the OPW, and a very good cooperation. But, what I would like to see is to ensure that the applications are progressed as quickly as possible. We have a larger-scale project which would benefit Cavan Town, and it surrounds, it will come under the CFRAM project. But, again, there's a very good working relationship. But, I think it's an area minister, and I hope that over the next few years, you will be able to ensure that additional funding is provided to that particular scheme, because of the benefits it can bring to so many households, literally, as I said earlier, changing their lifestyle, because some older people actually leave their homes during the months where the areas are very susceptible to flooding. So, from that point of view, we have to try to ensure that people are not discommoded to that extent as much as is possible. So, that type of literally small-scale financial investment can mean so much to so many families and so many communities. Thank you, Aghae Hirlig. Thank you. Very, very briefly, Aghae Hirlig. I agree with Deputy Smith and my colleague, Minister McGrath, here, and I'm sure he appreciates the sentiments that Deputy Smith is saying as well. So, the more money he provides the OPW, the more he'll be able to spend. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
