Save Cork City group calls for compromise as flood defence scheme set to proceed

Group says it would prefer 'friendly dialogue and compromise' to further legal action but did not rule out such action

An aerial visualisation of the proposed Morrison's Island flood defence project in Cork. The Supreme Court has rejected Save Cork City's appeal against the development. Picture: Cork City Council

The Save Cork City (SCC) campaign group has called for a heritage-led compromise in the delivery of a multimillion-euro city quay upgrade after the Supreme Court rejected its appeal against the granting of planning for flood protection works. 

SCC — whose legal challenges have delayed the Morrison’s Island public realm and flood defence scheme since 2018 — also said that, while it will take advice on the considerable legal costs, its campaigning will continue.

In a statement, SCC said it would prefer “friendly dialogue and compromise” to any future legal action, but did not rule out such action.

It follows the Supreme Court’s judgment to reject its appeal against An Bord Pleanála’s 2020 granting of planning for the council’s Morrison’s Island scheme.

A visualisation of how the completed quay would look — along with Holy Trinity Church, Fr Mathew St, and the RTÉ Cork building — when the proposed work is done. 

It involves the delivery of an upgraded public realm and landscaping along a 500m stretch of the River Lee between Parliament Bridge and Parnell Bridge.

It includes a riverside promenade, a new plaza at the eastern end of the South Mall, a redesigned Trinity Bridge crossing to Union Quay, the removal of a substantial amount of car parking, and integrated flood defences to benefit some 300 properties in a part of the city that suffers from regular tidal flooding.

The scheme also includes repairs to the existing quay walls, where the historic cut limestone will be refurbished, repaired, cleaned, and re-pointed in situ.

Council chief executive Ann Doherty welcomed the court’s ruling, saying the area has much more to offer and the council “intends to unlock that potential”.

A computer-generated image of the proposed plaza at the Parnell Plaza end of South Mall in Cork. 

Cork Business Association president Kevin Herlihy, who runs a business on Oliver Plunkett St, an area that has flooded many times over the years, said it is time to get on with the upgrade.

The project will go to tender by the middle of next year, with work due to start before the end of the year.