€20m landmark flooding project in Laois town moves forward

Tender process begins for site investigations for the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme

Published 7th Aug 2026, 18:00 BST Flooding in Mountmellick in November 2025. Photo: Leinster Express. Tender process begins for site investigations for the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme Sign up to our Laois Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Laois Live within your account.

The long-awaited Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme has taken a step forward now that Laois County Council has invited contractors to tender.

Laois County Council has published tender documents for a Ground Investigation Contract for the major €20 million infrastructure project in Mountmellick.

The contract will be for a duration of 12 months and its estimated value is €200,000, excluding VAT.

The planning documents for the Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme were submitted to An Coimisiún Pleanála in October 2025 and are currently awaiting approval.

The latest movement on the planning application saw An Coimisiún Pleanála request further information on the plans. They are anticipated to make their decision by November.

It has been almost nine years since flood defences were promised for Mountmellick after the town experienced severe flooding in November 2017 which caused millions of euros worth of damage to properties due to flood waters from the Owenass River and its tributaries.

The town is prone to extensive flooding due to several rivers running through it, including the Barrow, Owenass, Pound, and Clontygar.

Laois town gets €80,000 to combat flooding as wait drags on for €20m project The Mountmellick Flood Relief Scheme is hoped to protect the area from future flooding, with 160 properties to be defended against a 1 in 100 year flood. Around 90 of these properties were impacted by the November 2017 flooding.

The proposed scheme includes the construction of 1,191 metres of flood defence walls and 5,366 metres of embankments.

The works are proposed on a mix of public and private land with landowners’ permission and along watercourses including the River Owenass, River Pound, Clontygar Stream and Carroon Stream.

Details in this newly published contract states that the site investigation work has multiple purposes such as to reduce the risk of unforeseen ground conditions that could negatively impact the design of the scheme.

The investigation also intends to acquire ground and groundwater information in areas not covered by historical ground investigations and other published sources as well as to provide an initial assessment of the hydrogeological and geo-environmental characteristics along the proposed route.

The tender documents also note that the investigation will facilitate the installation of instrumentation necessary to capture the long-term behaviour and seasonal variations experienced at key areas across the site and to ascertain locations of underground workings, if any.

Earlier this week, there were further movements to protect Mountmellick against flooding as the OPW approved funding of €78,737 for remedial works on a retaining wall located on Manor Road which is prone to flooding.