The Flood Risk Management Sectoral Adaptation Plan 2025–2030 addresses risks to communities, property, infrastructure, agriculture, ecosystems, water quality and cultural heritage, while recognising cascading effects across transport, energy, health, communications, fisheries and other sectors. The Plan reviews existing flood risk management arrangements, including spatial planning controls, flood relief schemes, arterial drainage, urban drainage, hydrometric monitoring, flood mapping, forecasting and emergency preparedness. Its risk assessment identifies flood prevention and protection as the highest-priority areas, particularly the exposure of new development, the declining protection provided by existing schemes, the design of future schemes and the emergence of significant flood risk in areas currently considered low risk. Medium-priority issues include community resilience, warning and emergency-response capacity, nature-based solutions, urban surface-water management, data collection and continued research. The Plan establishes four objectives and 27 adaptation actions covering improved climate and flood-risk research, updated mapping, assessment of arterial-drainage embankments, staff and stakeholder training, community awareness, adaptation plans for existing and future flood relief schemes, monitoring of adaptation trigger points and estimation of future investment requirements. It also provides for integrated urban drainage planning, supplementary planning guidance, continued development of flood forecasting and warning services, and nationwide assessment and piloting of nature-based solutions. Implementation will be monitored annually through defined indicators, with formal evaluation every five years and reporting through national climate-adaptation governance structures.
Ireland · 2025-01-01