FLOODING: Clare mother refuses to leave home unless autistic sons have a safe space

A mother-of-two, stranded by floodwater in Clare, said she will not leave her home unless she is able to secure a safe environment for her sons, who have been diagnosed with autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

Surrounded by several feet of water, which is contaminated with sewage and farmland dirt, Shirley Mulcahy claimed she was “told nothing about flood plains” when she and her husband bought their three-bedroom bungalow in 2001.

Since they moved in 15 years ago the family have seen flood after flood destroy neighbouring homes, forcing them to evacuate to hotels.

Fed up with being “fobbed off” for years about the flooding conditions, Ms Mulcahy, 42, said: “If the council want to buy us all out and make us mortgage free, I would move out and then they can flood the place all they like.”

She said her home and her nearest neighbours who are cut off by the floods, have continuously taken the brunt of the release of water from the ESB-operated Parteen Weir “to save the rest of Limerick City”.

Another aerial view of the massive flooding which has hit Springfield, Clonlara, Co Clare.

She thanked Limerick fire service, the civil defence, and the army, for their “Trojan work” helping to sandbag properties and assisting those who need access to their homes.

“Planning permission was given here, and it’s completely obvious as to why it shouldn’t have been,” she said.

Ms Mulcahy and her husband David, who have two sons with special needs, go through “enormous stress” when the floods return very few years, as it throws their boys’ routines into disarray.

“I’d prefer to get help from the council to allow us to stay in the house where the boys have a familiar routine,” she said.

An aerial view of the flooding in Springfield, Clonlara, Co Clare, which is readying for more heavy rain coming in from the Atlantic this weekend

However, if the floods get worse, which they are expected to, the stressed-out mum said she would have no choice but to leave their home.

“Mark, 18, goes to school in Tulla in Clare, and Alex, 10, goes to school in Patrickswell in Co Limerick. At the best of times Alex can get agitated if he’s waiting for even a few minutes for his bus. So we need to know we will have a plan and a routine if we are to move out,” she added.

The Springfield area experiences severe floods at times when the ability to hold water in the ESB-operated Parteen Weir dam reaches capacity. The ESB says it has no choice but to release the significant volumes of water down the Lower Shannon.

“Something needs to happen,” said Ms Mulcahy.

“This is going on too long. The Council and the ESB don’t have to live here. They can’t keep doing this to us. Springfield gets a hammering constantly. It affects work, how we get the lads off to their schools, bringing in supplies, everything.”

Army personnel from the 12th Battalion, Sarsfield Barracks, filling sandbags to protect homes after the flooding in east Clare

Mr Mulcahy said: “It is a joke. It really is a joke, but I don’t see anyone laughing though.”

Waiting for a boat to help him bring bags of coal to his home, he added: “Getting in and out is our biggest problem. Our priority is getting the lads to school, and getting supplies in.”

“We’re the forgotten people, we don’t matter,” Ms Mulcahy added.