New pilot delivery model for Flood Relief Schemes in Donegal Town and Letterkenny

Flood relief schemes for Donegal Town and Letterkenny are now commencing through Office of Public Works (OPW) funding for three additional engineering and project management staff for Donegal County Council.

The funding for these schemes provides the opportunity for the OPW to pilot together with the council a new delivery model for flood relief schemes.

Speaking at the launch of the pilot in Letterkenny today, Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Patrick O’Donovan TD said he knew that these communities have been waiting for some time for work on flood relief schemes in their areas to start.

"The history and experience of flooding in these communities has brought devastation and is a cause of great concern to the families, business and wider community.

“The OPW and local authorities are working in a very challenging environment to deliver and expand the programme of flood relief schemes, due to resource constraints in a highly specialised and professional market.

"Within the current resource constraints, and from lessons learned to date, trialling a new delivery model for Donegal Town and Letterkenny will deliver important flood relief measures for these towns and will inform the most efficient approach to delivering the next tranche of 60 flood relief schemes nationally.”

The Government’s investment in flood relief of €1.3 billion to 2030 under the National Development Plan has allowed the State to treble, to 90, the number of flood relief schemes that are at design and construction. Together with the 12,500 homes and businesses already protected by completed flood relief schemes in 53 communities nationwide, the Office of Public Works (OPW) and local authorities currently have work completed or underway to protect 80 per cent of at risk properties.

The OPW is now funding five staff in total in Donegal County Council who are dedicated to managing, jointly with the OPW, flood risk schemes across twelve communities in Donegal.

The Minister highlighted that one of the important lessons from the current delivery model is the time taken to gather the necessary data on the causes of flooding and the landscape of a community at risk. The pilot will transfer the management of data gathering, as a first step in designing a scheme, from consultant engineers for a single scheme to the local authorities for all the schemes within their areas of responsibility.

The pilot means data gathering can be scaled up from individual communities to all schemes in a county. As well as bringing economies of scale, the gathered data can then better inform the prioritisation of schemes and the scope of services required from consultants to design and construct flood relief schemes.

The council's chief executive, John McLaughlin, welcomed today’s announcement.

“I wish to thank the Minister and his officials for this positive step which will allow Donegal County Council and the OPW to continue the strong working relationship established through ongoing flood relief schemes in the county. I welcome the opportunity to pilot a new delivery model for Donegal Town and Letterkenny, strengthening our commitment to provide holistic and climate-resilient flood relief to our communities.”

Council cathaoirleach, Cllr Liam Blaney also welcomed the news for the people of Letterkenny and Donegal Town.

“The leas-cathaoirleach and I know first-hand the suffering communities have experienced from past flood events. We look forward to continuing positive engagement with the OPW in the timely delivery of these flood relief schemes,” he added.