OPW has paid €5.7 million in flood works compensation
Records released under Freedom of Information show the OPW has paid out millions to those impacted by flood relief works
€5.7 million has been paid out by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to landowners negatively impacted by flood relief works over the course of a decade, a Freedom of Information request reveals.
The figure of €5,756,077 has been paid out nationally since 2010 and includes compensation payments and professional fees relating to them.
While most compensation figures are in the thousands and tens of thousands, six-figure sums include €400,000 paid out in November 2011, €350,000 paid out in December 2015, and €240,000 paid out in February 2015.
A PR spokesperson for the OPW told Tripe + Drisheen that the Arterial Drainage Act of 1945, an amendment of which the OPW operates under, means “landowners are entitled to seek compensation if they feel there has been interference as result of flood relief scheme works.”
The national figures were sought following the news that Bandon Angling Association were paid one sum of €19,500 in compensation by the OPW for damage to the River Bandon’s fishing before the beginning of the controversial flood relief works in the West Cork town.
The angling club sought further compensation of an undisclosed sum due to dangerous riverbank conditions and continued disruption to fishing, but a second compensation claim has not been settled.
Over 90 flood relief schemes of the OPW’s €1.3 billion national flood risk management plan are currently in the design and construction stages.
Several of the flood relief schemes in County Cork have generated controversy, as reported in a Tripe + Drisheen Long Read in April: