Cork council rules out buying €600k drain-clearing machine to help prevent flooding

Cork County Council currently relies on one machine for the whole county, for which it pays a private contractor

Members of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection group protesting at Cork County Hall on Monday. Picture: Jim Coughlan

Cork County Council bosses have refused to buy additional machinery to clear blocked drains and gulleys around the county to help prevent flooding.

The news was given to councillors as a small number of people attended a protest outside Cork County Hall on the slowness of flood relief works in the region. The protestors came from Midleton and Mogeely in East Cork and from the North Cork village of Rathcormac.