Cork businesses cry foul at flood barrier critics

Cork’s business leaders have criticised opponents of the city’s €140m flood defence plan amid fears that their “last-minute” intervention could delay the largest scheme of its kind in the history of the State.

Cork Business Association (CBA) spoke out ahead of a public forum tonight on the huge infrastructural project.

The Save Cork City campaign claims the OPW’s proposed defence plan will make flooding worse in the city centre and destroy the historic fabric and heritage of the city.

However, CBA CEO Lawrence Owens said most CBA members, who between them employ up to 30,000 people in the city centre, do not see anything in the design that will destroy the city.

“What it will do is protect the city from flooding,” said Mr Owens. “Where was everybody for the last 20 years? They seem to have arrived with this conviction with just months to go, putting untested, non-practical solutions forward.

“If they have something practical that could work, of course it should be considered. But at the last minute, as the clock ticks towards midnight, to come forward with these suggestions now, I think it’s rather strange. It has the potential to delay the project, to throw a spanner in the works.”

The OPW is in the final stages of public consultation on the massive plan which features a suite of measures to minimise flood risk to more than 3,000 properties, including the construction of walls, embankments and the raising of existing quay walls, on the north and south channels of the river in the city centre.

Save Cork City claims the solution is based around constructing “ugly concrete walls and pump chambers” in a historical city centre.

“Building walls and heavy infrastructure in an urban environment as a flood defence mechanism has to be the absolute last resort when it comes to protecting against flooding,” said a spokesperson. “The construction of heavy civil engineering includes the removal, demolition, and interference with unique and irreplaceable historical assets such as the quay walls and historic Cork-manufactured railings. The ‘solution’ will cause severe and far-reaching loss of economic potential to the city with the loss of heritage value.”

Campaign spokeswoman Polly Magee said the campaign arose because of the lack of public engagement and that the first time the general public realised the enormity of the proposals was last December, when design details were published.

“Our campaign rhetoric isn’t half as damaging as the impact this proposal will have on the city. It could be done so much better, with vision, empathy, and inclusion,” she said.

CBA president Pat O’Connell criticised the group’s late involvement.

“Do they have any idea of the human misery this flooding has caused people in the city centre?” he asked. “I don’t think they have. I have no idea where they were for the last seven or eight years when submissions were being made to the OPW. If they had concerns, why did they wait until the last minute to make a submission? ”

The issues will be debated at a public forum in City Hall, Cork, tonight.