Flood Funds For Ballinasloe

Business & Finance - Construction & Property

Wednesday, 02 November 2011 00:00

Written by Conor Joyce

Dr. Martin Mansergh, TD, Minister of State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), today announced an allocation of €900,000 under the OPW’s Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme to Galway County Council for flood relief works to be carried out in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.

Minister Mansergh said “I visited Ballinasloe in January of this year and I am very aware of how severely affected the Town was by the extreme flooding in November and December 2009 where several areas of the town were flooded by the River Suck and a substantial number of homes and businesses suffered damage.”

The Minister continued, “Having seen at first hand the damage caused and having met with local representatives and communities to listen to their needs and concerns I am pleased to announce that €900,000 is to be allocated to Galway County Council for the construction of a flood defence wall at the rear of housing developments in the Town.”

“The provision of funding for minor flood mitigation works complements a range of other ongoing OPW programmes, including carrying out major flood relief schemes and flood studies, that are aimed at managing national flood risk in a proactive and comprehensive way into the future”, the Minister stated. 

The Minister concluded, “The OPW has now allocated €3.5 million for over 60 projects throughout County Galway for flood mitigation works since I introduced the scheme in October 2009 and it is still open to Local Authorities to submit further applications for funding during the remainder of the year and all applications that meet the relevant eligibility criteria will be considered having regard to the overall resources available”.