Developer attacks ‘arrogant’ ESB

DEVELOPER Owen O’Callaghan has launched a blistering attack on the ESB for failing to change its dam operating procedures upstream of Cork city despite last year’s flooding disaster.

In a hard-hitting statement, the head of one of the country’s most successful property development firms described as “arrogant, appalling and frightening” revelations that the ESB still prioritises electricity generation at the Inniscarra dam, over flood management.

The O’Callaghan Properties boss said it is “beyond belief” that the company would manage the dams the same way this winter despite the flooding disaster which struck the city last year.

Millions of tonnes of water were discharged from the dam on November 19 last, swamping Cork city, causing an estimated €100 million of damage.

A flood risk study – Lee Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study (CFRAMS) – recommended last February that the dam operating procedures be changed. But the ESB admitted this week that they have not changed.

The ESB said it will only be in a position to change them, allowing for increased discharges and improving its ability to lower reservoir levels ahead of heavy rain, once downstream flood protection works, that are also recommended, are built.

But Mr O’Callaghan said: “The ESB still don’t seem to get it. They do not exist in some sort of bubble.

“Yes, their brief is to generate electricity but they seem to be suggesting that they carry no responsibility for public safety and the protection of businesses.

“There are many who would hold that the ESB’s ineptitude last year, in not controlling the outflow of water from the dam in appalling but forecast weather conditions, put the safety of the citizens of Cork at risk and damaged the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of people.”

In response, the ESB refuted “any suggestions of negligence” in the manner in which it operates the Lee dams. In a statement last night, the ESB said it was working with the OPW and local authorities to progress the implementation of the study’s recommendations.

In the meantime, the ESB is, at the request of the OPW, looking at interim measures that “might be put in place on a pilot basis” for this winter with a view to increasing the level of flood protection downstream.

Following completion of the downstream works, the ESB “will be in a position to change its operating procedures to allow increased discharges from Inniscarra, improving the ability to lower reservoir levels in the event of heavy rain,” it said.

However Mr O’Callaghan said the power company must accept that it may have to temporarily halt Inniscarra dam’s contribution to the national grid to allow a controlled discharge of water to eliminate flood risk. He has called on Cork county and city councils, and business and community interests, to demand the dam’s operating procedures are changed.

“The fact that they [the ESB] haven’t done so already makes it own statement about their level of interest in Cork. If these things are of no interest to the ESB or beyond its competence, then perhaps the Government should seriously think about taking the control of the dam away from the ESB altogether.”

In September, An Bord Pleanála cited flooding concerns as it shot down O’Callaghan Properties plans for an €80m private hospital on Lancaster Quay. The site was unaffected during last November’s flood.