Catchment Management Planning

& Catchment Community Fora

Discussion Document

August 2023

Ireland’s draft River Basin Management Plan (dRBMP) proposes that, “Integrated Catchment Planning: local catchment management plans, which will be sub-plans to the national Plan, will be put in place in the next cycle for each of the 46 catchments. Building over time into fully integrated catchment management plans, these will eventually provide a continuing opportunity for greater public participation and engagement of key stakeholders and sectors at a local and regional level in the ongoing management of catchments and water bodies.”

The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) has been tasked with preparing a template for these Catchment Management Plans. This document is intended to form the basis for discussion with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH), RBMP implementing bodies, An Fóram Uisce, Catchment Associations, River Trusts, and other community groups and stakeholders on the proposed approach for Catchment Community Fora and the development of a template for the Catchment Management Plans in five Pilot catchments.

This is the first opportunity for the public and interested parties to review and comment on the proposed approach. Comments on the discussion document are welcome up until the 30th November 2023.  Comments will be collated through the comment section - Make a Comment link.

The comments will inform the scope and content of the Phase 1 Catchment Community Fora workshops planned to be held post publication of the River Basin Management for Ireland 2022 - 2027 in each of the five pilot catchments as well as the proposed template for the Catchment Management Plans. It is now expected that the Plan will be published in late 2023.

The timelines set out in the Discussion Document are subject to change and are dependent on the date of publication of the River Basin Management Plan.

The discussion document will be modified to take account of the comments and feedback received through this process and from the workshops.

We would like to thank you in advance for the time taken to consider the proposed approach and look forward to your comments.