Portlaoise to be emergency depot for national flood relief

PORTLAOISE will have one of five national emergency depots for the storage of vital flood relief equipment.

The town’s Laois Co Council yard has been designated to store a range of emergency plant and equipment, which will include mobile flood barriers.

Portlaoise and four other locations will each receive 20 new pumps and mobile water-filled flood barriers known as aqua-dams, to supplement local authorities’ emergency equipment stocks.

The Portlaoise centre was selected by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for the storage of essential items such as water pumps, to deal with flooding and other emergencies in Laois and surrounding counties.

It means that vital equipment will be available locally, rather than having to be collected from centres sometimes long distances away.

Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran announced on 29 September that Portlaoise, Sligo, Galway, Mallow and Cavan will be the five designated national emergency depots.

He said that the OPW, in conjunction with local authorities, wants to respond much faster to emergencies such as flooding and other issues. The five locations were agreed by local authority managers.

The OPW will store emergency water pumps and other equipment in the Laois Co Council depot, so that they can be made available in ‘double-quick time’ when emergencies arise.

Welcoming the announcement, Laois TD Seán Fleming said: “Local authorities’ management of these barriers and pumps will provide them with the agility and flexibility to further improve their response to flood events.” 

Following Storm Chandra earlier this year, the government tasked the OPW with procuring pumps and mobile water-filled flood barriers, to supplement local authorities’ emergency equipment stocks.

The OPW said that it worked closely with the County and City Management Association (CCMA) and the market, regarding the acquisition of new equipment.

The OPW published a tender competition for the pumps and barriers over the summer and the tender evaluations are currently being finalised.

It is expected that the frameworks to draw down this equipment will be in place and available to local authorities by November 2026.

While the OPW sourced the barriers and pumps, they will be managed by local authorities and the equipment will be made available for deployment by local authorities nationally.