Private Members' Motion on Flooding - Green Party - GreenParty.ie
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Green Party
Green Party
Private Members’
Motion on Flooding
Published 19 October 2021
GreenParty.ie
1Green Party
Private Members’ Motion on Flooding: Senator Róisín
Garvey
Flooding: the covering or submerging of normally dry land with a large amount of water.
There are 4 types of flooding in general:
• Fluvial (River) flooding-when rivers and streams break their banks.
• Pluvial (Rainfall)/Urban storm water flooding -when the amount of rainfall exceeds
the capacity of urban storm water drainage systems or the ground to absorb it.
• Groundwater flooding-when the level of water stored in the ground rises as a result
of prolonged rainfall.
• Coastal flooding -when sea levels along the coast or in estuaries exceed
neighbouring land levels or when waves overtop over the coast.
I am introducing a private member’s motion today on flooding because we are deeply
concerned about the issue of flooding we currently face, not to mention the impact of
climate change presently and what we face in the short and long-term future. We are
deeply worried about how much worse it has become and how much worse it is going to
get.
Before we ever even knew about or felt the effects of Climate Change we have had
flooding issues. In the past blocked drains or poor planning around allowing building on
flood plains caused issues. We have learned from that, and inappropriate development
has been addressed by The Planning System and Flood Risk Management Guidelines.
While people debated Climate Change, the climate changed.
2Green Party
I move that Seanad Éireann:
Acknowledges that
• Floods are an inevitable part of life in Ireland but the frequency and intensity of
flooding has greatly changed both now and into the future, as Met Eireann can
confirm, because the type and intensity of our rain and our weather has changed
and our flood management needs to adapt also.
• Floods are usually caused by a combination of events including:
o Heavy Rains.
o Overflowing Rivers.
o Broken Dams.
o Coastal storms and Storm Surges
o A lack of vegetation.
o Blocked or overloaded drainage ditches
o Infrastructure that was built on Flood Plains
• Numerous severe floods have occurred throughout the country in the last decade.
• Floods present a risk when people, property, the environment and our cultural
heritage can be potentially damaged, land eroded, nutrients leached from soils and
soils washed away.
• Through the appropriate measures in the right places, we can reduce their
likelihood and limit their impacts.
• Natural Flood Management is an approach to managing soil, wetlands, woodlands
and floodplains along a river to retain and slow water at times of flood risk, reducing
the speed and the peak of floodwaters
• International Best Practice in flood risk management recommends:
3Green Party
o A River Basin whole catchment area approach
o Not passing flood risk management problems in one region on to another
o Insofar as is possible, we must engage in natural processes to help and
guide us as we move forward to solve flooding challenges
o Mitigation, non-structural and soft engineering measures should be
considered and deployed where appropriate recognising their environmental
value.
o Structural measures, such as defence structures are important when it
comes to the protection of human health and safety, and valuable assets.
o While structural measures such as hard engineering provide important and
viable protection to many at risk communities, the design of flood risk
solutions needs to both consider and as appropriate integrate non-structural
and soft engineering measures as both more efficient and sustainable
mitigation measures. Nature conservation and landscape management
considerations need to be taken into account.
Endorses Ireland’s whole of Government approach to flood risk management which is co-
ordinated by The Office of Public Works (OPW) across three strategic and policy areas:
• Prevention: e.g. avoiding construction in flood-prone areas.
• Protection: e.g. taking feasible measures, both structural and non-structural, to
reduce the likelihood and impact of floods.
• Preparedness: e.g. informing the public about dealing with flood risk and a flood
and building community resilience.
Recommends, due to the significance of the task we are facing, exacerbated by climate
change, that the Government:
4Green Party
• Maintains a multi-annual investment programme managed between the OPW and
the local authorities in flood relief measures to protect communities.
• The OPW and local authorities will engage with experts such as hydrologists in the
fields of flooding and coastal erosion for solutions to flood risk management.
• Undertakes a national land use review, including farmland, forests, and peatlands,
so that optimal land use options inform all relevant government decisions. The
review will balance environmental, social, and economic considerations and involve
a process of evaluation of the ecological characteristics of the land. It will include
consideration of emissions to air and water, carbon sequestration, and climate
adaptation challenges. Policy co-benefits, such as rewetting or forest regrowth to
mitigate flooding risks in river catchments, will be considered. The national land use
review is currently under way, at first phase, by the Department of Environment
Climate and Communications together with the Department of Agriculture.
• Promotes planting of ‘protection forests’ along rivers and lakes to protect water
quality and assist in managing flood risks.
• Progresses the development of a national policy on coastal erosion and flooding
that takes account of damages present and predicted due to climate change.
• Launches a new revised and strengthened River Basin Management Plan in 2022,
drawing on a collaborative approach between all stakeholders, which is currently
open for public consultation.
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