Painfully slow progress in Laois town's flood defences revealed in Dáil reply

The slow pace of building flood defences for Mountmellick is revealed in a Dáil update to a Laios TD who was told that the project is still at stage one in the process. 

In 2017 a Humanitarian Aid Office had to be set up in the town after almost 100 homes and businesses were flooded. Laois Offaly TD Charlie Flanagan raised the town’s Flood Relief Scheme in a Parliamentary Question in the Dail last week.  

He asked “when works will commence; the position regarding planning permission; the proposed timeframe for such works; when such works will be completed; the monies approved for such works; the cost of such works; the date upon which works were approved; the nature of the works to be undertaken.”

Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Patrick O’Donovan said the Office of Public Works (OPW) was the lead agency in the scheme. 

In 2018 OPW completed a national CFRAM(Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management) study which identified 29 flood risks in river basins including the Barrow River Basin in Mountmellick. 

“To facilitate the progression of potentially viable flood relief works in Mountmellick, Laois County Council agreed, with the support of the OPW, to lead the further detailed assessment of the flood risk, design options and environmental assessments to support a planning application for a viable scheme.

"The Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme, which has a preliminary total project budget of €6.8m, is currently at Stage 1 – Scheme Development and Preliminary Design. To progress the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme, Laois County Council engaged the services of JBA Consulting,” Minister O’Donovan explained. 

“With support from the OPW, various works have been completed by Laois County Council and its consultants, including Hydrological and Hydraulic Reports, and Environmental Surveys, with public consultation events also been held.

"The Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme is currently approaching the end of Stage 1 with the selection of a preferred option, which involves flood defences such as embankments, walls, culvert upgrades and a bridge replacement over the Owenass River that will provide protection to some 80 properties against flooding. The preferred option was selected based on a range of criteria including economic, environmental and ecological impact, climate change adaptability and consideration of the feedback which arose during the public and stakeholder consultation process,” said Minister O’Donovan. 

“Following the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment Report, it is envisaged that in the first part of 2024, the planning application process will commence to get consent for the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme from An Bord Pleanála under Part 10 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Construction works will commence as soon as possible after planning consent is granted. Expenditure to date for this scheme is some €1.15m,”  he said. 

The timeframe for the development of the flood defences is laid out in a Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme webpage. 

Stage 1 - Identification and Development of a Preferred Scheme- is allotted 24 months. Stage 2- Planning process- should take 12 months.

Stage 3 -  Detailed Construction Design, Compilation of Work Packages and the Preparation of Tenders for Contracts-  nine months. 

Stage 4-  Construction Supervision & Project Management Services- 18 months

Stage 5-  Handover of Works- two months

This should mean that from early next year it will take around three and a half years to complete the flood defences in Mountmellick.

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If all goes well, the defences will be in place by mid-2027, some ten years after the devastating floods in Mountmellick in 2017.