A revised engineering study – setting out the guidelines for the provision of a long-term flood relief scheme for Galway City – is expected to be available by the end of this month.

Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Patrick O’Donovan, in a Dáil reply to Galway West TD Catherine Connolly, said that a draft revised scoping study for the project had recently been presented to the City Council.

Officially titled the ‘Coirib go Cósta – Galway City Flood Relief Scheme’, an overall national budget provision of €9.5 million was made available for the project in 2021, in the wake of the Storm Eleanor flooding disaster of January 2018.

According to Minister of State, Patrick O’Donovan, the process of ‘redefining the scope’ had taken longer than first envisaged ‘due to the complexity’ of the proposed scheme.

The scope study (a preliminary look and examination of the proposed project) is, according to Minister O’Donovan, currently being reviewed by the Coirib go Cósta Steering Group members.

A CFRAMS (Catchment Flood Risk Assessment Study) had been carried out prior to 2021 after the damage caused by Storm Eleanor which outlined a number of measures to be put in place including:

■ Minimum heights for flood protection walls would be 1.2 metres.

■ Flood defence works would extend from the Docks onto Long Walk, Spanish Arch, the Claddagh, Grattan Road and Fr Griffin Road.
This is a shortened preview version of this story. To read the rest of the article, see the November 10 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can support our journalism and buy a digital edition HERE.