Flood defence talk needs to be met by action – Ó Muirí

Climate change poses a serious and growing threat to flood risk across Ireland, and a whole-of-Government response is needed to accelerate critical flood defence projects, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí said “Flooding risks are becoming more apparent. Storm Chandra earlier this year inflicted terrible damage on communities like my own in north Dublin, and the longer we drag our feet on critical flood defences, the more people will suffer.

“The latest European State of the Climate report shows just how vulnerable we are to the impacts of climate change. Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average, with extreme rainfall leading to catastrophic floods, as we have seen in recent years.

“The report highlighted that, between 1960 and 2010, river flood hazard increased by 11% per decade in western and central Europe, and projections indicate that this trend will continue.

“Europe is one of the regions with the largest projected increase in flood risk, and the last three decades saw the highest number of floods of the past 500 years.

“Yesterday’s Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy session heard from the OPW that it is critically important Ireland is prepared to deal with and manage the increased flood risk that we will see.

“There are many plans in place, but they must be matched with decisive action. Out of 54 large flood defence projects deemed critical in 2018, 31 remain at preliminary design stage. How is this acceptable in the face of the climate crisis that is coming?

“The funding is there, the support from communities is there too. We cannot continue at this laggard pace, we need to tackle this head on before communities are irreparably damaged and lives are lost,” concluded Deputy Ó Muirí.