The Office of Public Works (OPW) and Donegal County Council are piloting a new delivery model for flood relief schemes in Donegal Town and Letterkenny.
Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Mr. Patrick O’Donovan TD was in Letterkenny yesterday to announce OPW funding for three additional engineering and project management staff for Donegal County Council.
Speaking at the launch of the pilot, Minister O’ Donovan said: “I know 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.”
He added: “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.”
Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Mr. Patrick O’Donovan TD, with Liam Blaney, Cathaoirleach Donegal County Council and Joe McHugh TD. Photo Clive Wasson.
John McLaughlin, Chief Executive of Donegal County Council, 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.”
Liam Blaney, Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council, 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.”
Photo Clive Wasson. .
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 national pilot delivery model will also involve schemes in Freshford and Piltown in County Kilkenny.
These provide ideal locations to trial this new approach given the scale of communities to be protected and as counties that are exposed to flood risk from rivers, tides and the coast.
There are currently some 75 flood relief schemes at design stage. Over the coming eighteen months of this pilot, many of these schemes are programmed to move through planning and to construction. This should free up resources to start many of the 60 schemes yet to commence under the National Development Plan.
The OPW recently discussed with the Directors of Services of the local authorities in the country if the current delivery model is the best delivery model to adopt for the next round of schemes. The pilot is adopting the identified opportunities to improve efficiencies and reduce timelines within the current model. Through a value for money assessment and ongoing discussions with the local authority sector, the pilot model will inform the national approach for the delivery of future flood relief schemes. The pilot will be overseen by a Steering Group chaired by the OPW.
