I have tabled this motion because of the flooding which occurs in the Long Bridge area of Dunmanway. This problem has been going on for the last 30 years. Thankfully the houses have not been affected by flooding this year but heavy rain always leads to an unsatisfactory situation. Houses, business premises, private property, roads and the adjoining school are flooded when the river Bandon bursts its banks. This poses a health hazard for the people of the area. I have seen water flowing through houses in Long Bridge. People can look out their back window and see the river rising. Some of them have poles in their gardens with a mark on them and when the water rises above the mark they put out sand bags. Much damage has been caused to houses over the years. Money was allocated for remedial work a year ago. Will those involved in the planning of this work get on with the job so that we will have no more flooding?
Adjournment Matters. - Dunmanway (Cork) Flooding.
I thank the Senator for raising this issue. Following the passing of the Arterial Drainage (Amendment) Act, 1995, a list of some nine areas which suffer periodical localised flooding was drawn up for immediate priority consideration for drainage schemes. The flooding of Dunmanway was among these first nine areas and the Commissioners of Public Works have been involved since then in the investigation of the causes of the flooding. The flooding in Dunmanway has received speedy attention and the commissioners have been involved in devising means of alleviating the problems encountered.
By way of information I might mention that one of the criteria for selecting areas for inclusion on the first priority list was that the commissioners had previous knowledge of flooding in an area and had information to deal with the matter. In this regard, the flooding in Dunmanway was very well known to the commissioners as they had undertaken an investigation into the problem and prepared a report on the matter on behalf of Cork County Council in 1990-91. However, due to the demands on their staffing resources in 1995, the commissioners appointed a firm of consulting engineers to undertake the necessary investigations and to prepare a preliminary report outlining a range of options for dealing with the problem and making recommendations on the one most favoured.
It should be mentioned that the incorporation of the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations, 1989, into Irish law amended the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945, to make it a legal requirement for the carrying out of a detailed environmental impact statement for each drainage scheme and for the report to form part of the statutory scheme documentation.
The 1995 Act also includes this requirement and hence the investigation of flooding problems and the preparation of drainage-flood alleviation proposals for the Dunmanway schemes required that a detailed assessment of the existing environmental conditions in the area had to be established in the first instance. This effectively means that pure engineering proposals could not be finalised until their impact on the existing environment could be determined. As the assessment of existing conditions normally requires at least a full annual cycle to be measured this meant that the progress of scheme designs and options were slower than originally envisaged. Indeed, in that regard, the presence of major areas of environmental and ecological interest in the Bandon valley immediately downstream of the Long Bridge in Dunmanway, the discovery of protected species and habitats in the area in question and the recognition of the Bandon river as an important salmonid river all limited the engineering possibilities available.
Notwithstanding this, the commissioners are advancing with proposals which primarily involve the construction of embankments and back drain systems upstream and downstream of the Long Bridge, together with the mobilisation of three additional arches in the bridge and associated excavations. Because of the competing demands on available Exchequer resources and the public capital programme, capital investment projects, such as localised drainage-flood relief schemes are required to undergo assessment to prove their economic merits. Accordingly, a cost benefit analysis of the Dunmanway scheme proposals needed to be carried out before they could be passed beyond the preparatory stage. I am happy to say that such an assessment has now been undertaken which shows a positive return for the proposed works.
A design for this scheme is well advanced and preparation of scheme documentation is nearing completion with a view to bringing the scheme to public exhibition stage early in the new year and getting to works stage in April 1997. The statutory public exhibition of the scheme documentation will provide opportunities for all interested parties to comment on the scheme proposals and to submit such observations to the commissioners for their consideration. The commissioners are required to consider these observations and, where practicable, to have regard to them in the scheme design after which the scheme has to be submitted to the Minister for Finance for statutory confirmation.
Works on the Bandon river drainage scheme will commence once all the statutory and other procedures have been complied with and the necessary funds for works will be met from the Vote for the Office of Public Works.
I thank the Minister for his reply. I am glad to hear that work will commence in April 1997. Some of the people in the area were worried about the environmental aspect on the lower side of the bridge. There are some islands with unusual flora and fauna but we have to balance this with the needs of people.