Officials never told us about damage to city centre, say councillors
The Office of Public Works, which is overseeing the River Nore Drainage Scheme in the heart of Kilkenny city, says local authority members were informed of a crack on the roadway along John’s Quay a year ago.
It says officials sitting on a steering committee were also told in mid-July about visits to homes along the quay.
Engineers working on the project examined cracks on walls of the listed properties. However, borough council members were never told about the damage.
“Monthly meetings about the works have been taking place and a local authority representative has been at each of these meetings,” said an OPW spokesperson.
“The issue of the crack on the road arose a year ago and the houses were visited in mid-July.
“Reports that the news came to a shock to the local authority are nothing short of sensationalist. There is nothing covert or underhand about what has been going on here.”
But senior officials with Kilkenny Borough Council said the first they knew of the difficulties was when the matter was raised at the last meeting of the local authority.
On Radio Kilkenny, newly-appointed city engineer Billy Murnagh
said he knew of the problem with the houses but nothing about the problem with the road on John’s Quay.
“It probably just was an oversight,” he said. “The damage in the overall context is minimal and it is something that can and will be repaired at the end of the day.”
Mr Murnagh was not available for comment yesterday.
Furious borough council members now want to know who knew what and when. Ald Michael Lanigan said it was by sheer accident that members and officials had found out about the damage, which could have a devastating effect on the city centre.
He said it was nothing short of an outrage that the situation had come to the present crux.
Former Mayor Paul Cuddihy yesterday said he did not remember being informed of any such subsidence. He said he was as surprised as any other member of the local authority to find out about the damage.
He said: “I hope that the monitoring of this situation would be ongoing. I am confident that the OPW will visit these homeowners again and allay their fears.”
