Council told to 'drive' Individual Property Protection system for properties in Louth

Minister of State Kevin Boxer Moran has said that he told the local authority in December, to look at Individual Property Protection (IPP) schemes for properties at risk of flooding in Louth, through the minor works programme, and that it was something he cannot drive himself.

The minister made the comments in the Dáíl last week, in response to comments from Louth Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú.
Flooding and coastal erosion continued to dominate debate in Leinster House last week, with Deputy Ó Murchú focusing on the “lack of capacity” currently in Dundalk and in the north of the county that he said is putting hundreds of homes at risk.

The Sinn Féin deputy spoke on an Aontú motion on flood prevention and said that while he acknowledged that Minister of State Kevin Boxer Moran had visited Blackrock at Christmas, the catchment-based flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, needs to be driven ahead.

He said the application for Dundalk and Blackrock south under CFRAM would be going in around June 2027, but short-term mitigations were needed in the meantime.

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Deputy Ó Murchú said the Ardee Road in Dundalk has flood issues caused by the River Blackwater. He said: “We have finally received promises to clean the River Blackwater and The Ramparts. We have seen the introduction of pumps.

“We need to ensure that Louth County Council has access to them always, uses tankers and that we do the best we can in the disaster scenario”.

He said there were also flooding issues at Bay Estate, Cluan Enda, Greenwood Drive, Blackwater Court, Ashbrook the Red Barns Road and St. Alphonsus Road.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: “We have those issues of high tides and huge rains. However, at this point in time the reason we have flooding there is that the Uisce Éireann infrastructure is not up to scratch.

“I refer to the issue with CFRAM and the issue with the Coes Road pumping station, where everything from WuXi Biologics comes right through. 

"It is a joint sewage and storm water facility. The fact is it is not going to upgraded completely. Works will start in about 2027 but will not finish until 2029 or 2030, according to the council.

“Even worse, the wastewater treatment plant is not due to be upgraded until 2033. There is no capacity and we are lucky we did not have hundreds of houses flooded”.

He also highlighted how there had been coastal erosion on the Carlingford Greenway. He said: “Ballagan has had huge issues, and Councillors Antóin Watters and Fiona Mhic Conchoille have been on to me multiple times about that”.

In response, Minister Moran said: “When I visited the place during Christmas week, I identified areas that could get protection. I looked at the street and we identified one shop, a chemist, that did not flood.

“Why did it not flood? It put in its own individual property protection, IPP. I reached out that day to the local authorities to look at an IPP system through the minor works programme. I await that because I cannot drive it. I ask the Deputy to drive that with the local authority”.