Brian Stanley backs Aontú bill to speed up flood defences

Independent Laois TD Brian Stanley is among the backers for a successful Aontú Bill in the Dáil asking the Government to speed up planning process for flood defences.

Deputy Stanley then spoke in the Dáil, urging measures to speed up Flood Relief Schemes in Laois, noting Mountmellick and Portarlington in particular.

The Mountmellick flood defences, which he recently said could now cost €20m, are with An Coimisiún Pleanála with planning approval expected this year. Portarlington's project has not yet reached planning application stage.

Dep Stanley outlined the need to give local councils a greater role in progressing Flood Relief Schemes and to do the various surveys and reports that are necessary prior to construction, simultaneously and not one after another.

Speaking In the Dail on this he stated that,

“Climate change is here, and we are seeing what it looks like. This is the beginning of it, unfortunately, with the changing weather patterns that we have been seeing in the past few years.

Flood relief schemes are taking from 13 to 20 years, which is too long, to put in place. The Mountmellick and Portarlington schemes have been planned since 2017. People in the two towns are on high alert the whole time. Homes on Manor Road were flooded again in recent months. Botley Lane in Portarlington gets flooded, and there is extensive flooding in other parts of the town. Residents are on edge.

The progress on both schemes, which are now nine years old, is way too slow. Planning and construction are taking too long. The completion date for those who are centrally involved in the Mountmellick scheme will at best be 2030 or 2032, and maybe even longer. For Portarlington, it is anywhere between 2030 and 2034, which is 17 or 18 years after the scheme was conceived.

We agree with what is proposed in the motion, except for the seventh point. I would say to Aontú, in the context of taking it away from local authorities, that it actually goes to An Coimisiún Pleanála. It did not go to the local authorities in the context of any of the schemes I have seen. We need to give local authorities more power and a greater role. We need to devolve more powers to them. That is exactly the problem we have because local authorities do not have sufficient staff and powers to deal with these matters.

The various studies and reports on ecology, hydrology, archaeology and habitats are taking far too long, as are the public consultations and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). They need to happen in tandem, not consecutively. That is the message I would give to the Minister of State”.

The Aontú Leader and Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín's Private Member's Bill was passed in the Dáil with cross party support.

However Dep Tóibín said "its a well-used cynical trick of the government to say yes in the Dáil and simply do nothing".

The bill calls on the Government to make a long list of changes.

"Immediately make flood forecasts available to the public through Met Éireann;  introduce push notifications for flood warnings in local areas that have a significant threat of flooding; set up weather stations in mountain areas where the level of rainfall has a significant impact on river catchments; adequately staff planning departments in city and county councils; adequately staff An Coimisiún Pleanála; reform the planning process by ensuring that vexatious planning objections are no longer allowed, and objectors who do not have a geographic or a material interest in a project should not be allowed to object to a planning application for a flood defence or flood alleviation plan where life and livelihoods are under threat.

"Take planning applications for flood defences and flood amelioration projects, where life and livelihoods are threatened, out of local authorities where blockages exist, and create a fast-tracked national planning process for these projects, and this will help flood defence schemes that affect numerous counties; simplify planning applications and ensure that only one standardised planning application is necessary for all planning, permitting, licensing and regulatory authorities.

Read next: 'Lethal' road junction between Portlaoise and Abbeyleix - Cllr Tommy Mulligan

"Rebalance the planning process where habitat and Special Areas of Conservation planning conditions exist, in favour of protecting human life and livelihoods that are threatened by flooding; expedite public consultations where life and livelihoods are threatened by flooding; roll out nature-based solutions and compensate farmers upstream on river catchments to reduce flooding; end construction on flood plains; properly staff the court system, so that judicial reviews are dealt with in a speedy fashion; streamline the judicial review process by removing time-consuming procedures; and review the lack of financial supports for those who cannot get insurance for cars and other costly possessions with a view to supporting these families."