A local TD has said the delays in delivering the Galway City Flood Relief Scheme are a cause for “serious concern”.

Deputy Catherine Connolly said the situation with the ‘Coirib go Cósta’ scheme need to be addressed as a matter of urgency.

The Independent TD asked Minister of State at the Office of Public Works, Patrick O’Donovan, for an update on the scheme, which has been under review for over a year because of an increase in the scale of the overall plan.

The Minister said the revised programme “will be published in the coming weeks”. The original timeline for publication was a year ago.

Deputy Connolly said: “The flood relief scheme aims to protect 940 properties in the Long Walk, Spanish Arch, Eglinton Canal, Merchants Quay, Raven Terrace, Salthill and Claddagh areas. It has a preliminary total programme budget of €9.5 million and was initially promised for completion in 2029.

“However, following hydrological and hydraulic modelling for the scheme, it became clear in January 2023 that significantly more defences would be required.

“As part of the original Coirib go Cósta plan, there were to be three public consultation days throughout the project. Just one has taken place to date, in June 2021,” she said.

In his response to Deputy Connolly’s parliamentary question, Minister O’Donovan confirmed that the second public consultation day is expected in Q4 2024 – three-and-a-half years after the first.

Deputy Connolly said she had regularly raised the matter with the Minister and pointed to the severity of the flooding caused by Storm Debi last November, which caused extensive damage across the city and county, as well as other parts of the country.

“Given the destruction caused by recent storms and the ongoing delay in the delivery of the Coirib go Cósta project, I’m calling on the Government to show more ambition, to publish the revised plan and to implement the necessary flood defences in Galway City as a matter of urgency,” she said.