‘Cork remains every bit as vulnerable as last year’

ABOUT 24 hours after Cork flooded last year, the then city manager Joe Gavin informed me that the Minister for the Environment was coming to Cork the following day to inspect the damage.

He wanted myself (as Lord Mayor) and the manager to accompany him on the tour.

When we arrived at the Mercy Hospital he noticed the damage to the quay wall and the sandbags which had been placed there.

Mr Gormley invited me to stand with him for a photograph on the sand bags, but I declined as I was talking to some of the hospital staff at the time.

One year later, I would now like to invite Mr Gormley or any representative of Government to come back to Cork, and this time I will stand with him on the same sand bags, by the same damaged wall.

The fact that the wall has not been repaired is of course serious by virtue of the fact that this most basic of flood protections remains absent.

A far more important point however is the symbolism of this inaction.

The fact remains despite many promises to the contrary Cork remains every bit as vulnerable as it was this time last year.

Many issues arose from the flooding of 2009. None have been addressed.

The first of these involves the repair and improvements of the basic flood protections such as our quay walls.

Our quay walls are now in a very vulnerable state due to years of neglect. Many were weakened last year and would not survive even a less dramatic flood than the last one we had.

Secondly the flooding caused serious damage to the Lee Waterworks.

A total of 80,000 Cork people were left without water for more than a week.

Two actions were promised to prevent a re-occurrence.

A barrier wall was to be constructed around the waterworks to protect from future flooding, and an inter-connector was to be put in place to link the water supply on both sides of the city.

This would mean that in the event of future damage or contamination to the water production at either Inniscarra or the Lee Waterworks, the other facility could provide a limited supply for the city area as a whole.

But in 12 months, only minor improvements have been made at the waterworks, and the inter-connector has not been put in place.

Of course the damage and the lack of repair is a scandal in itself, however a far greater one is the fact that no changes have been made to the cause of Cork’s flood last year.

The ESB continues to operate the dam at Inniscarra in the same manner as it did last year.

The message they are sending to the people of Cork is unambiguous in my opinion.

If the same weather conditions as last year reoccur then Cork will flood again.