Adjournment Debate. - Clonakilty (Cork) Flooding. – Dáil Éireann (27th Dáil) – Tuesday, 14 Nov 1995

Adjournment Debate. - Clonakilty (Cork) Flooding.

Mr. J. Walsh

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this particularly important matter. I have an intimate knowledge of this subject because I live in the town and I am pleased that the Minister of State, Deputy Coveney, is in the House to reply because he is a Cork Minister and familiar with the problem.

Clonakilty has been subject to repeated tidal and fresh water flooding for many years. In 1991, the Department of the Environment sanctioned the appointment of consulting engineers, M.C. O'Sullivan, to look at ways and means of resolving this problem and their report made two essential recommendations. It recommended the construction of a tidal barrage of Clonakilty Bay to prevent tidal flooding and reduce the risk of freshwater flooding. The consultants also emphasised that any flood relief works which did not include the construction of a tidal barrage would prove unsatisfactory. The report also emphasised that, in the construction of the barrage, care would have to be taken to allow for the wildlife habitat in the mud flats in Clonakilty Bay. This would have to be observed in any measures being taken in the bid to prevent tidal flooding.

The second recommendation was to reduce the volume of surface water flooding in the eastern end of the town and the report proposed the construction of a new drainage system by way of sealed pipes into the tide at the eastern end of the town. The cost involved for the sealed pipe system is approximately £87,000 and the tidal barrage would cost approximately £1.5 million.

I ask the Minister to give consideration to providing the £87,000 which, on the face of it, is not a great deal of money. There is a serious flooding problem in Clonakilty. Sandbags are at the ready all the time and earlier this year, when there was a serious flood, it caused a great amount of damage, including damage to some local authority houses.

I have been given the excuse on a number of occasions that this is the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, the Department of the Marine or the Office of Public Works. If we could get £87,000 from any source with a view to considering the construction of a barrage at a later stage, I would be happy.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. Coveney)

I am interested to hear the Deputy's comments on the flooding problems in Clonakilty. He obviously knows more about that than anybody else, and certainly more than I do. I am aware of the problems nonetheless. Unfortunately, it mirrors in genereal terms the problems in many areas throughout the country which suffer flooding on a regular basis. Indeed, it was for this purpose that the Government introduced the Arterial Drainage (Amendment) Act, 1995, earlier this year. This Act amended the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945, under which the powers of the Commissioners of Public works to undertake drainage works were derived, and gave the commissioners new powers to undertake drainage schemes for the relief of localised flooding.

Some nine areas around the country, for which enough data was available to commence immediate designs for flood relief schemes, were identified for priority consideration under the 1995 Act. They are as follows: Carlow Town —the Barrow River catchment; Cappa-more, County Limerick, and Newport, County Tipperary—the Mulcair River catchment; Duleek, County Meath—the Nanny River catchment; Dunmanway, County Cork—The Bandon River catchment; Gort Town, County Galway —the Gort River catchment; Kilkenny City—the Nore River catchment; Six-milebridge, County Clare—the Owenogarney River catchment; Williamstown, County Galway—the Corrib-Clare-Suck River catchments and Belclare, near Tuam, County Galway, where a smaller scheme than the others has already been undertaken.

Apart from the Belclare scheme, the eight remaining areas previously mentioned for immediate attention form the current drainage flood relief programme and designs of schemes for all eight are in course of preparation and, in a number of instances, are practically complete. It is likely that existing commitments to these schemes will absorb all the available resources in 1996.

Approximately 90 other areas around the country, which also suffer flooding on a regular basis, among which is

Clonakilty, have been identified for consideration for localised flood relief schemes. It is intended that these will be prioritised shortly and form the basis for a national drainage-flood relief programme to be undertaken on an ongoing basis.

In that context, I give an undertaking to Deputy Walsh that I will bear the problems in Clonakilty, with which I am familiar, in mind. I am familiar also with the fact that some years ago Cork County Council commissioned consultants, with the agreement of the Department of the Environment, to study the problems in Clonakilty. The conclusions to which the Deputy referred are the same as I understand them to be.

The Deputy appreciates reality because in mentioning the cost of the tidal barrage in Clonakilty Bay of £1.5 million, he is concentrating initially in reducing the surface water problem in the town to a figure which is easier to contemplate, £87,000. If the £87,000 scheme to reduce the surface water were to make a substantial contribution to improving the local flooding problem, it would be easier to prioritise that and contemplate carrying it out on the compeltion of the other eight or nine schemes.

I cannot give the Deputy any undertaking in regard to an expenditure of £1.5 million for a tidal barrage, which is a major work of engineering. Given the historical budgets of the Office of Public Works, that would be a difficult scheme to finance within our budget. However, I will examine in the near future the question of the surface water aspect of this scheme and perhaps we can slot it in after the completion of the other schemes, perhaps in 1997.

Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 14 Nov 1995