There are at some 300 flashpoints that are major flood risks, and to build defences for them would cost “tens of billions of euro”, the Minister with responsibility in this area has said.

Minister of State for the Office of Public Works Brian Hayes says a national debate is required to ascertain how the State should prepare for such flood events in the future, especially in the knowledge that they will become more regular occurrences in the future.

The 300 flood-risk areas are predominantly along the coast and include all major urban centres including Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

Inland counties
However, bigger inland counties – especially those with major rivers running through them, such as Tipperary, Kilkenny and Meath – each have well over 12 towns included.

One centre not included in the list – compiled in 2012 and known as “areas for further assessment” – is Lahinch, Co Clare, which suffered severe flood damage during the January storms.

Mr Hayes said yesterday capital spending for flood defence had not been cut during the recession, as it had in other areas, with some €250 million being allotted to schemes over the next five years.

He told The Irish Times there was a need to recognise the scale of the challenge in developing a comprehensive flood abatement strategy and getting national agreement on the priorities in that area.

“When I first came into the OPW I got a very detailed briefing on flooding. In the view of the experts here, there were at least 250 hotspots across the country that were prone to flooding, and could give rise to major tidal or fluvial floods,” he said.

To build defences for all these hotspots, he added, would cost tens of billions of euro.

“The issue is how do you use the resources we have to maximum effect? You need to prioritise your goals to the maximum benefit, to reduce human suffering in such situations.

“We have a model where the first priority is to prevent the potential of fatalities; then to protect households; then to protect commercial property; and then to protect farmland.

Vulnerable to floods
"We need a national debate about where we build and how we deal with such situations," he added.

The Minister of State accepted that some “appalling decisions had been made in the past by planners and politicians”, which had located development on flood plains or on lands that were known to be vulnerable to flooding.

He said that these days planners stay “a million miles” away from areas prone to flooding as a matter of course.

The OPW is finalising a comprehensive mapping and planning project on flood management, based on the seven major river catchments, which will be submitted to the EU by 2015.

Seven flood defence schemes are ongoing at present, with financing of €45 million. A further 15 schemes are in the planning stages.

All involve complex problems and solutions, both from hydrological and planning perspectives.

The latest series of major flooding incidents – and the many millions of euro in damages that have been caused – is expected to dominate this morning’s Cabinet meeting and is likely to be a major theme during Leaders Questions this afternoon