By Conor O’Carroll
Environmental advocacy group, Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), have echoed comments made by Sinn Féin Senator Lynn Boylan accusing Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan TD of “scaremongering” over flood management reforms.
In a recent Dáil debate following the widespread flooding in Cork caused by Storm Babet, Minister O’Donovan criticised attempts by Senator Boylan to “dismantle” the Arterial Drainage Act, discouraging her “not to go down that route because it will leave many communities in this country in a very vulnerable situation”.
Under the Act, the Office of Public Works (OPW), which the Minister has special responsibility for, is obliged to maintain all rivers, embankments and urban flood defences in “proper repair and effective condition”.
However, the Act has come under scrutiny recently with the Citizen’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss recommending that the Act “is no longer fit for purpose and must be reviewed and updated in order to take proper account of the biodiversity and the climate crisis”.
Environmental groups also say that the ‘maintenance’ of the rivers by the OPW is leading to the “destruction of whole river systems”.
Senator Boylan previously accused the Minister of “scaremongering” in a Seanad debate in June, stating that “flood management strategies have evolved significantly since 1945” and that “nature-based approaches like “slow the flow” can provide a win-win solution for both biodiversity and flood prevention”.
These nature-based approaches, known as Natural Water Retention Measures, are designed to work with the natural processes of rivers and their floodplains to slow down the flow of water and reduce the risk of flooding.
A petition with over 5,000 signatures from the Irish Wildlife Trust was also presented to the Minister in July 2021. It called for reform of what they described as an “archaic piece of legislation not fit for the 21st century”.
Concerns were previously raised in 1975 when an Inland Fisheries Commission report claimed: “Drainage operations eliminated desirable natural meanders in rivers, removed holding pools, destroyed spawning beds, and produced canal-type water courses characterised by long stretches of steep banks piled high with rubble and spoil”.
The Act has come under scrutiny recently with the Citizen’s Assembly on Biodiversity Loss recommending that the Act “is no longer fit for purpose and must be reviewed and updated in order to take proper account of the biodiversity and the climate crisis”
In a statement, FIE director Tony Lowes said the Act “could be amended to give the OPW more flexibility to reduce river flows facilitating the implementation of natural retention measures while maintaining current flood safeguards”.
“We urge Minister O’Donovan to work with Senator Boylan and other stakeholders to amend the 1945 Arterial Drainage Act to enable the adoption of Natural Water Retention Measures while upholding existing flood protection”, he continued.
Village contacted the Department of Public Expenditure for comment but has not received a response.
