A total of €430 million is to be invested over the next five years to help prevent flooding in Ireland.

The Minister of State with special responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Flood Relief Seán Canney TD made the announcement.

The Minister recently met the members of the Interdepartmental Flood Policy Co-Ordination Group to cover issues which are outside the scope of the responsibility of the OPW and to report on non-structural solutions that will inform the OPW ten year implementation plan.

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Minister Canney said: "We recognise that the recent flooding has been extremely difficult for many communities across the country. To that end the Programme for Government sets out a number of key actions and activities to be attained during the lifetime of this Government. I and my colleagues in Government are committed to ensuring that the National Flood Risk Management Plan through its flood mitigation initiatives will protect as many communities as possible from flood risk in the years ahead. These initiatives will be underpinned by significant investment of €430million over the next five years."

The Minister was updated by each Department on its progress on a range of policy issues towards the finalisation of the report which will be presented to the appropriate Cabinet Committee at the end of June.

(CD)