Laois flood defences rise to €54m with €11m more for Mountmellick and Portarlington
Higher costs of Mountmellick, Portarlington and Clonaslee flood defences confirmed by Laois County Council
Up to a decade since they were first promised, the price tag to build flood defences in three Laois towns has risen to an eye watering €54m.
Laois County Council has listed the expected cost of the planned projects for Mountmellick, Portarlington and Clonaslee in its new Indicative Capital Programme 2027 - 2030.
It also plans to spend €11m on capital projects to improve Mountmellick and Portarlington.
Mountmellick’s project cost has jumped from the recent estimate of €20m, to €30m. Portarlington’s project will cost €19.5 million. Clonaslee Flood Relief Scheme will come in at €4 million. All three schemes rely fully on state funding.
Cllr Paddy Buggy said the slowness in building the defences is a concern. Mountmellick’s is not expected to be complete until early 2032, and Portarlington by late 2031, with Clonaslee approved since last January.
“I welcome the flood scheme for Clonaslee, Mountmellick and Portarlington, but speed is a concern.
“It’s nine years since the big flood, and still there is no shovel in the ground. The start date is 2028, I hope they bring that forward,” he said.
Cllr Buggy is the manager in Mountmellick Development Centre, where creche children had to be carried out by fire crews when the adjacent River Owenass flooded in in 2017.
He spoke at the council’s budget meeting of November 9 where a total of €231m was outlined in investments across Laois over the coming three years, if the state approves funding.
Other capital projects are on the list for Mountmellick and Portarlington, but not the bypasses that both towns need, as they are not on the National Development plan and so cannot be funded.
Mountmellick is to get a new €3.65m fire station. There will be €2.5m spent on improving Mountmellick’s O’Connell Square, River walk and Smiths Field developments.
Portarlington is getting a €3m renovation of the iconic derelict cinema in Market Square to turn it into a business enterprise centre. The town is also getting a €2m investment to regenerate the public realm and add active travel paths.
Clonaslee’s flood relief scheme will protect 64 properties from two rivers
Mountmellick’s is the largest Laois flood defence project, with over five kilometres of embankments and 1.1km of walls and a rebuilt stone bridge, to protect 165 properties from three rivers. A planning decision is expected this winter.
Portarlington’s planning application is not going to be submitted until mid 2027. The defences will protect 72 properties from the flooding Barrow River.
The council is also planning to spend €750,000 on OPW minor flood prevention works around Laois in the coming three years, providing a sixth of that funding itself.