No change to flood defences, says OPW

Direct defences are essential to protect Cork City from flooding and will not be dropped from the State’s largest ever flood defence scheme, the OPW insisted last night.

Ahead of a major public forum tonight on the €140m project, a senior OPW engineer said while they are open to changing the look and feel of defences in certain areas, they will not be scrapping the overall design concept for the massive scheme.

OPW assistant chief engineer Michael Collins insisted that direct defences are the only “viable and cost-effective way” to protect the city from extreme flooding.