Conference Chairperson & Opening Remarks

Paul Singleton, Associate, Chartered Civil & Environmental Engineer, McCloy Consulting

Residual Flood Risk & Design-Led Planning – Managing What’s Still at Stake

Speaker: Mistaya Langridge, MASc, EIT, MIEI, Senior Engineer, McCloy Consulting

• Identifying the exposures not captured by CFRAM or historical mapping, including pluvial, groundwater, and coastal risks
• Incorporating updated OPW guidance and local flood relief scheme data into risk planning
• Making FRAs and SFRAs meaningful, inspection-proof, and aligned with the 2009 Guidelines and Climate Adaptation Framework (2024–2030)
• Clarifying operational roles across OPW, Uisce Éireann, and local authorities to avoid duplication and close accountability gaps
• Ensuring design, planning, and emergency management operate as a single, integrated system for community resilience

Nature-Based and Sustainable Flood Management

Speaker: Jonathan Cooper, Director of Natural Capital Ireland, Flood Resilience and Adaptation Consultant, Cooper Resilience Consulting Ltd

• Integrating engineered defences with natural floodplains, wetlands, and blue-green infrastructure
• Aligning Irish projects with the EU Nature Restoration Law (2024) and domestic biodiversity targets
• Cost-effective implementation through hybrid “green-grey” approaches promoted by OPW and EPA
• Funding opportunities through LIFE, Horizon Europe, and the Climate Adaptation Fund
• Demonstrating community, biodiversity, and economic co-benefits of nature-based flood schemes

Attributing and Scaling Climate Change Impacts on Floods Through Causal Chains: Evidence from the Shannon Catchment

Speaker: Prof. Conor Murphy, Irish Climate Analysis and Research UnitS (ICARUS), Department of Geography, Maynooth University

• Examining how climate change is influencing flood-relevant rainfall and flood magnitude
• Demonstrating a causal-chain framework linking global temperature rise to local hydrological impacts
• Demonstrating how climate-driven and catchment-driven effects can be separated
• Providing emerging evidence of an anthropogenic signal in the Shannon catchment
• Highlighting how the approach can extend to droughts, low flows, and wider water-system impacts

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in Housing Development and Flood Risk Management

Speaker: Michael O'Donoghue, Director, JBA Consulting

• Applying the Flood Risk Management Guidelines (2009) and the Justification Test in housing development and rezoning decisions
• Integrating Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) as a core requirement in all new residential developments under national guidance expected in 2025/2026
• Using SuDS-led design to reduce long-term flood exposure while continuing to meet Housing for All delivery targets
• Retrofitting and elevating existing homes in flood-prone areas — design considerations, funding routes, and insurance implications
• Balancing national housing supply with local flood risk, insurance viability, and long-term climate resilience

Auckland Floods 2023 - Lessons Identified and their Application to Irish Emergency Management

Speaker: Derek Cheevers, Founder at Prosilience Consulting, Associate Lecturer, UCPM Trainer

• A review of the multi-agency response to an extreme pluvial event in Auckland New Zealand 2023 highlighting failings in preparedness, coordination, communications, public warning systems and leadership
• Climate change and coastal flooding risk in our capital- are we prepared?
• The Framework as a tool for multi-agency flood risk response
• Developing shared situational awareness and joint decision making across multiple agencies through a Common Operating Picture (COP)

OPW Funding Applications – Meeting the Technical and Evidence Requirements

• Understanding what qualifies as robust evidence for Minor Works and Major Flood Schemes
• Building strong business cases with clear benefit-cost ratios, hydrological modelling, and optioneering
• Sequencing feasibility studies, stakeholder consultation, and funding bids to streamline delivery
• Incorporating new co-funding opportunities under the Climate Adaptation Fund and EU resilience programmes
• Avoiding rework through technically sound, stakeholder-aligned submissions

Making Flood Risk Measures Work on the Ground

Speaker: Daniel Good, Flood Check

• Why flood measures fail in practice - Common issues seen on live buildings: poor detailing, unrealistic assumptions, retrofit constraints, and products specified without site understanding
• Designing for installation, access, and maintenance - How early design choices affect construction choices, user deployment, inspections, and lifetime performance of flood defences
• Temporary vs permanent protection: choosing the right solution: Clear, experience-led guidance on where demountable, deployable, or permanent measures succeed—or create new risks
• What “good” looks like after handover: Training, ownership, inspections, and maintenance regimes that keep flood measures effective years after installation—not just on day one