848. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the number and value of flood relief schemes completed, underway and planned in each local authority area, together with the current stage of each scheme, in tabular form. [59256/26]

To establish those communities that are at risk from significant flood events, the OPW completed the largest study of flood risk ever undertaken by the State in 2018. The OPW Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme was undertaken by engineering consultants on behalf of the OPW, working in partnership with the local authorities. The CFRAM Programme studied 80% of Ireland’s primary flood risk and identified solutions that can protect over 95% of that risk.

The Government has committed €1.3 billion to the delivery of flood relief schemes over the lifetime of the National Development Plan to protect approximately 23,000 properties in communities that are under threat from river and coastal flood risk.

Since 2018, as part of a phased approach to scheme delivery, funding under the National Development Plan has allowed the OPW to treble work on flood relief schemes, through partnership with Local Authorities. Consequently, some 100 flood relief schemes are at design, planning or construction at this time. To date, the OPW has invested some €590m in 57 completed flood relief schemes, which protect 13,640 properties nationwide and provide an economic benefit in damages avoided estimated to be in the region of €2bn. In 2025, over €100m was spent on delivering flood relief schemes. This is a record high annual expenditure and is reflective of the progress made in delivering flood relief schemes nationally.

As it is not feasible to deliver all flood relief schemes concurrently (due to constraints on the specialised engineering skills in the OPW, local authorities, and the consultancy market), the flood-relief delivery programme was sub-divided into two tranches, focusing initially on Tranche 1 schemes and those already in the delivery pipeline. The prioritisation of the first tranche of schemes was based on three criteria including: scale of projects, capacity to deliver a national programme, and maximising return on investment by reference to property numbers. Under the national programme, work has yet to commence on the design of some 50 Tranche 2 flood relief schemes. Final costs and benefits for these projects will be determined at the appropriate stage of each individual project’s lifecycle.

There are also some 30 Small Projects which are being progressed by Local Authorities throughout the country and funded by the OPW.

Table 1 provides the number of active, major flood relief projects and the estimated total economic benefit per county. Table 2 provides, by county, the status of each active, major flood relief project. Further details are available on www.floodinfo.ie.

Note: Information on completed schemes is not included in these tables, focusing instead on major schemes in the delivery pipeline. Small Projects and projects funded under the OPW’s Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme are also excluded from the tabulated analysis. Further information is publicly available at www.floodinfo.ie/scheme-info/.

Table 1: Active major schemes, investment, financial benefit and protected properties upon completion per County.

Table 2: Active, major scheme status per County