Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 9 Nov 1949

Vol. 118 No. 5

Private Deputies' Business - Adjournment Debate—Minane Bridge Reclamation Scheme.

Mr. P.D. Lehane

This is the first time that I have been guilty of delaying the House on the Adjournment because I have a great deal of sympathy for the officials of the House. It may seem to some Deputies that this is a small, frivolous matter. I asked the Minister for Lands to-day whether he would state the reasons for the delay in carrying out the Minane Bridge reclamation scheme which had been before his Department for a very considerable time. I got the following reply from the Minister:—

"This work presents major engineering difficulties for which a final and adequate solution has not yet been approved."

I am sure the House will forgive me when I tell them that this scheme has been before one or other Government Department since 1912 and has now become a very serious and acute problem.

The position in this area is that the embankments that were put up years ago have been washed away by the incoming tides and the public road, the bridge, the parish Church are all in danger, of being undermined. The position is so serious that some three or four years ago the Bishop of Cork volunteered to pay a certain sum to the Land Commission if they would undertake the work. The county council, having regard to the serious effects it is having on bridges and roads in the area, also volunteered to pay a certain amount to the Land Commission if they would undertake this work.

The present Minister for Lands went down there and saw what was happening and agreed that it was an urgent problem and that the work should be undertaken immediately. He said that to the residents there in my presence and in the presence of his officials. His predecessor, Deputy Moylan, went down there some years ago and he also told the people that he fully agreed that the matter required immediate attention. This scheme would save valuable property. It would save thousands of acres from being flooded and enable land that had been flooded to be reclaimed. While there are huge drainage schemes being carried out by other Departments—a £40,000,000 scheme under the Department of Agriculture and other drainage schemes under the Department of Local Government—this scheme for the Minane Bridge area has been hanging fire since 1912.

Once upon a time when officials visited the area they met the parish priest, who said "Are you from the Land Commission or the Board of Works, because I laugh when I hear of the Board of Works doing something but I howl when I hear of the Land Commission saying they are going to do something."

The position in this area is that a considerable amount of valuable land is going to waste. The Church, bridges, roads and a number of houses are in immediate danger. I want to know from the Minister what will be done. I am not satisfied with the answer he has given us to-day. I know the present Minister wants the work done. I know the previous Minister wanted the work done. I know the previous Minister did everything he could to get the work carried out, and I believe that is true also of the present Minister.

I want the Minister to tell us who or what is the fly in the ointment that is preventing this very important work from being carried out. If it is a civil servant, cannot the Minister get rid of him? If it is a bit of red tape, cannot the Minister cut that red tape? If it requires legislation, why does not the Minister introduce the legislation to get rid of the official and the red tape? The position is extremely serious at the moment. The people in the area feel that they have been played with by the Department over a number of years. It is particularly galling to them at the moment when they see places of much less importance being reclaimed and drained under other schemes. They feel that it is a tragedy that they have been playing with Government Departments since 1912 and did not wait until the new drainage scheme was introduced.

Minister for Lands (Mr. Blowick)

I want to inform Deputy Lehane that it is neither red tape, an official nor lack of legislation that is the cause of what he alleges is delay. I can quite understand Deputy Lehane's anxiety to have the job carried out. I have seen this place and I am perfectly aware of the danger caused by the tide. The erosion is coming perilously near some houses, the church, a bridge and a little village.

The trouble there is that a barrage has to be erected right across what is really a mud flat. There is no departmental delay. Deputy Lehane has judged the situation very well when he says that I am anxious to get the job started. I am. There is no delay.

Mr. P.D. Lehane

There is.

Mr. Blowick

Underlying a layer of sand, 18 to 20 inches deep, there is a depth of soft clay that would not provide a suitable foundation for the barrage that would be erected and that would have to stand up to the headwater that would come against it on the other side. The engineers of the Department are doing their best to find a means of building an embankment strong enough to hold back the tide there but, so far, a similar problem has not arisen in any other part of the country from the experience of which they could benefit. The site of the embankment or barrage and the erection of sluice gates forms a very risky problem. The cost would run into at least £20,000. Obviously, there is absolutely no use in erecting an embankment that might give way, on account of a bad foundation, perhaps the first time that a storm from the sea would pile up the tidal water higher than usual and put extra pressure on the embankment. The foundation is really the cause of the trouble.

The repairing of the embankments along the river and restoring them to their former condition would, in my opinion, involve an expenditure that would not be justified. If the Deputy and the people down there will have just a little patience, I have no doubt that some suitable method will be found of erecting an embankment there that will keep out the tide and be strong enough to carry the sluice gates to hold back the river water until the tide goes down.

There is no delay. Borings have been made and further borings have to be carried out to ascertain exactly what is underneath and to find out if they can reach something solid on which a sound embankment can be built, an embankment which will not give way under pressure. I want to assure the Deputy that I fully appreciate his anxiety, on behalf of his constituents, to get the work done. That is the very laudable motive behind his raising the question now. There is, as I say, no undue delay, but I must sound this not of warning, that we must wait until we can be certain that we have got a suitable method of erecting an embankment, or that we have a foundation on which it can rest solidly. I know that the Deputy would be the last person to ask me to spend £20,000 on something which might be torn away by the very first storm.

The Dáil adjourned at 10.45 p.m., until 3 p.m. on Thursday, 10th November, 1949.