{"id":422787,"date":"2026-04-29T03:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422787\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T03:48:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T03:48:13","slug":"cost-of-galway-flood-defences-rises-by-60-to-e80-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422787\/","title":{"rendered":"Cost of Galway flood defences rises by 60% to \u20ac80 million"},"content":{"rendered":"

The estimated cost of new flood defences in Galway has increased to \u20ac80 million, as the timeframe for completion of the project has been further extended.<\/p>\n

The 60% increase in costs has been attributed to the scale of the measures involved and the impact of inflation in the construction sector.<\/p>\n

It’s now envisaged that construction work on Corrib go C\u00f3sta\/Galway Flood Relief scheme would not finish until mid 2033.<\/p>\n

Planners say the defences will be technically viable, environmentally sustainable and will integrate into the character and heritage of the city.<\/p>\n

They would comprise a total of 6.5 kilometres of flood defence walls, along with 1.4 kilometres of earth embankments and ground raising measures.<\/p>\n

A total of 50 flood gates and eight surface water pumping stations also form part of the latest designs to be presented to the public.<\/p>\n

The “emerging preferred scheme” is being outlined at a series of meetings in the city over the coming days.<\/p>\n

\"Artist
\nThe flood defence walls would generally be 1.1 metres in height (Artist’s impression)<\/p>\n

The flood defence walls would generally be 1.1 metres in height and would be augmented in certain locations with “demountable” barriers, which would be deployed during flood events.<\/p>\n

The bulk of these would run from Blackrock in Salthill, into the city centre and on towards Galway Harbour.<\/p>\n

Additional protections will also be installed around Terryland and west of Salthill, with other safeguards on sections of the Eglington Canal.<\/p>\n

The overall design is intended to protect against one in 200 year coastal flooding events and one in 100 year river flooding events.<\/p>\n

When completed, planners say the measures would prevent over 800 homes and 200 businesses from being flooded.<\/p>\n

The latest designs envisage a mix of solutions along the route.<\/p>\n

They include the construction of flood defence walls along the Salthill Promenade, Claddagh Quay and in the Fish Market\/Spanish Arch area.<\/p>\n

In most instances the walls are set back from the coastline, to preserve existing vistas while, at the same time, ensuring no properties could be inundated with water.<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
\nThe construction of a 1.1 metre wall on Claddagh Quay would allow for a one-way system (Artist’s impression)<\/p>\n

The construction of a 1.1 metre wall on Claddagh Quay would necessitate a one-way system for southbound traffic, as it would be erected in the middle of the existing road.<\/p>\n

The Fish Market would be raised by just over half a metre, with a flood defence wall of a similar height bordering this area.<\/p>\n

Ground raising would also be carried out on the Long Walk, with both a flood defence wall and demountable defences planned.<\/p>\n

Galway City Council, the Office of Public Works and consultants from the Arup engineering firm will consider submissions on the latest proposals, before selecting a final preferred design.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s envisaged that a formal planning application will be submitted in late 2028, with construction forecasted to begin in mid 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The estimated cost of new flood defences in Galway has increased to \u20ac80 million, as the timeframe for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-422787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}