'We really don’t have any protection': Cork flood victims stage protest at County Hall
Caroline Leahy of Midleton Flood Protection Group with members of the Midleton, Castlemartyr, Killeagh, Whitegate, Moogley, and Rathcormac Flood Protection groups at County Hall in Cork. Picture: Jim Coughlan
A €6m scheme set up in the wake of Storm Babet in order to protect homes and businesses from further flooding in Cork has only carried out works on 74 properties, despite 725 being damaged.
Members of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group are protesting outside County Hall in Cork City to express their frustration.
The group has been told by Cork County Council that the firms providing the flood barriers through the scheme are "just not able to supply the demand".
Group secretary Caroline Leahy said: "We are not happy with the progress on the ground.
"We are nearly 12 months on from the announcement of that scheme, and nearly two years on from Storm Babet, and we really don’t have any protection across East Cork yet."
According to Ms Leahy, residents who were affected by Storm Babet back in 2023 have been living in fear ever since.
Speaking on RTÉ's , Ms Leahy said: "Every time it rains there is huge worry, there is no reprieve from it.
"There were talks of really bad rain down the South-East on Saturday night, and luckily enough that moved across to England.
"Not so lucky for England, they did have flooding as a result of it, but we are depending on luck all of the time to keep us safe, and it’s just not really a good enough situation to be living in."
Ms Leahy's own home flooded badly during Storm Babet, and she said: "We had absolutely no warning of it, no expectation of it.
"We had 3ft of water in our house within 20 minutes, our entire downstairs was completely wiped out. We had to tear down our walls and basically rebuild the whole downstairs, nothing was salvageable. It is something that you can’t really understand unless you’ve lived through it."
Ms Leahy went on to voice the group's concern over the flood barriers that have been provided to residents so far.
"They are not really the barriers we were promised when the scheme was announced. We were expecting to be given fitted barriers that were much more solid," she said.
"They are also not high enough. The barrier is only 680mm high, so it is nowhere near adequate."
Ms Leahy also said most households have only received one barrier, which also "isn't sufficient".
"We need two or three, because the water came in front door and back door together."
Ms Leahy said the group now plans to "increase pressure all round".
