City flood defence project to be fast-tracked by OPW

THE Office of Public Works is fast-tracking a two-pronged flood-defence project for Cork city, it emerged last night.

“It has been decided that there is sufficient confidence in the viability of the proposed measures to proceed directly to the commissioning of a consultant,” the OPW said in a report to Cork City Council.

The consultant will design localised flood defences in at-risk zones and combine it with changes to the way the ESB manages its River Lee dams to help protect the city from flooding.

This is the cheaper of two options proposed last February, just months after the devastating November flood, at the launch of a major study on flood risk in the Lee catchment area.

The Lee CFRAMS study said building huge tidal barriers and raising the quay walls would cost an estimated €145 million and would take several years to deliver.

Controversy erupted after this approach was ruled out on cost grounds.

But the OPW said last night, it has confidence in the other option of building several smaller flood prevention works and combining them with new operating procedures for the water levels in ESB reservoirs.

Following several meetings of a steering group comprising the OPW, Cork city and county councils, and the ESB, its head of flood project management services, John Kelly, said the appointment of the consultant will begin immediately.

But Cllr Dara Murphy, lord mayor during the flood crisis, dismissed the report as “non-specific waffle”.

“People want specifics. They want to know what the OPW and the Government are going to do.

“There seems to be back-peddling attempts at not spending money in Cork. It’s seven months on now and people can’t get insurance or their premiums have been quadrupled. We should accept nothing less than full protection.”

But city manager Joe Gavin welcomed the OPW’s report. He said the proposed measures will provide a “robust and quick” flood protection system for the city.

“If it works, as the OPW says it will, it will be a huge relief to residents affected by last November’s flood and will demonstrate to insurance companies that measures are there.”

He suggested that OPW experts be invited to City Hall in three or four months to brief councillors on progress.