Flooding in Louth raised with Taoiseach as calls for action grow

Recent flooding in Louth was raised with Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week by Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú.

The Dundalk deputy took an opportunity at Taoiseach’s Questions in Leinster House to highlight how the recent damage caused by flooding in Dundalk had brought the flood mitigation scheme, known as CFRAM, to the fore once again.

Deputy Ó Murchú said that while ‘a huge amount of work’ had been done by local authorities and emergency services, the danger of flooding remains.

He said: “With regard to the Dundalk and Blackrock south project, the promise is quarter 2 of 2027 for planning application submission. There have been promises and we have been waiting years.

“There are five particular projects throughout Louth, in Drogheda, Carlingford, Greenore, Baltray and Ardee. The lack of wastewater capacity is also causing issues”.

In response, the Taoiseach said that, in general, flood protection schemes ‘take a long time’.

The Taoiseach said: “Some of that is due to stakeholder engagement and public engagement, and there can be objections and so on. If any projects are of such imperative, these are. 

“We do know that when these projects happen, they are effective in protecting against flooding. Towns that had historical flooding events have stopped them because of good infrastructure being put in. These projects invite a lot of objections. 

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“We had it in Cork City and it went the whole way to the top courts. It is only now that work is under way and all of that. 

“There was flooding in Cork City this week. It was there because of the tidal levels, but one could argue that if you had the protections in, then businesses and people would have been protected and people could have gone in and out of town. I am very conscious of that”.