OPW rejects alternative Cork flood plans as 'just not viable'

Professor called for reservoir/downstream tidal barrier which he claims would be half the cost of €150m Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme

Paul O’Driscoll handing out emergency flood protection sand bags from the Cork City Council depot on Anglesea Terrace. Picture: Dan Linehan

The Office of Public Works has rejected as "just not viable" a retired professor’s theory that a new upstream reservoir combined with a downstream tidal barrier can protect Cork from flooding for half the cost of its €150m Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme (LLFRS).

As the city braced for the second major flood in less than two months, the OPW mounted a robust critique of a detailed paper presented by Philip O'Kane, a retired professor of civil engineering at University College Cork, at the recent National Hydrology Conference.