Flood relief to start in Skibbereen

Flood victims in Skibbereen, West Cork, say they can see light at the end of the tunnel and are confident that work on a €14m project to protect them will start this summer.

Cathal O’Donovan, spokesman for the Skibbereen Floods Committee, said that, following a meeting with Office of Public Works Minister Simon Harris, the committee was pleased “to be edging ever closer to construction work on the ground”.

The West Cork town suffered from two big floods in 2009, when many houses and businesses were severely damaged.

He said in the past four years there had been six near misses where another two hours’ rain, spring tide, or change in wind direction could have had further severe consequences, primarily because most people now do not have flood insurance cover.

Skibbereen has suffered from 21 significant floods between 1943 and 2009.

Because of the history of flooding and the last major flood event in 2009 it was decided it was time to plan for a €4m Flood Relief Scheme for the town.

It has been designed to provide a 200-year flood event protection for 179 homes and 131 commercial properties.

Planning has been underway since 2010 and has led to the public consultation in 2011; a public information day in 2012; and the public exhibition in 2013.

These fed into the Stage 3 Detailed Design, which is now 99% complete.

There has been ongoing consultation with land-owners, private householders, and businesses.

The scheme is now at the final procurement stage before construction.

“This is a two-stage process,” said Mr O’Donovan. “In the first stage eight contractors have now pre-qualified from an original list of 21 which included 60 specialist sub-contractors. Letters have been sent to the successful and unsuccessful applicants.”

The second stage involves the successful applicants tendering for the scheme.

“It is estimated that the main works contractor will be appointed by the end of March and work on the ground to commence May-June and will take two years to complete,”said Mr O’Donovan.

“The preparations for this scheme began in 2010. We are confident that these preparations are nearing completion and expect construction of this long awaited scheme to commence in mid-year.”