Award for siblings who held back flood

Three brothers from Co Clare have been presented with Garda Youth Awards after they gallantly defended their home and neighbours’ properties from last winter’s flooding.

Luke Kinsella, 17, and his twin brothers Jake and Philip, 16, kept the flood at bay despite the tide rising two feet around their home. They managed to protect it with a cordon of 600 sandbags.

They also raced to help secure neighbours’ houses in Springfield, 1.5km from the River Shannon, after the ESB was forced to release increased volumes of water when levels in the Parteen basin rose quickly.

“We stayed up night and day manning six pumps around our house. It was very hard work. We often went three days without sleep, manning pumps all day. It was cold, and raining, and I thought there would be no end to it,” said Luke, who is studying civil engineering management at Limerick Institute of Technology.

At one point, Luke’s younger brother Philip collapsed from the effects of the flood, which caused his asthma to flare up. At the time the twin was applauded by locals as he was taken off in an ambulance to hospital for treatment.

“If the flood comes again we’ll be back pumping and building another cordon of sandbags around the house,” Luke added.

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Nine recipients in total were presented with awards by Assistant Commissioner Anne Marie McMahon, Limerick Chief Supt David Sheahan, Supt Derek Smart, and Mayor Kieran O’Hanlon, at a ceremony in the Woodlands House Hotel, Co Limerick.

“It was a proud day for us, and I’d like to thank the gardaí for the award.

“We were happy to make our mother proud of us,” Luke added.

The brothers lost their father to suicide three years ago, but their mother Bridget said her boys “became the men of the house” when they rowed in to save their home from the floodwater.

Supt Derek Smart said: “Unfortunately the three lads lost their dad and they had to become adults very quickly, and they stayed working in the floods for eight weeks, manning the pumps.

“One of them went to hospital and was back at the pumps the following the day. It was great to recognise them,” he said. “The future is bright.”

Despite several homes in Springfield being repeatedly flooded over the last 20 years, the Office of Public Works, the country’s lead agency for flood risk management, has “put on hold” an application for funding by Clare County Council for the appointment of consultants to investigate possible solutions.

“Nothing has been done to protect the area from further flooding,” said Bridget Kinsella.