Midleton residents to hold second protest over council's slow installation of flood defences

Aerial photographs taken in October 2023 showed the shocking extent of the flooding in Midleton, with major routes and open spaces submerged. Photo: Guileen Coast Guard unit

A second planned protest over the slow roll-out of flood defences by Cork County Council after Storm Babet is to go ahead on Saturday.

Members of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group say Cork County Council has failed to act fast enough to improve flood defences and will mount the protest on what is the storm’s second anniversary.

Some 600 houses and 300 businesses were damaged in the 2023 Storm Babet, forcing some businesses to close permanently, with damages estimated between €180m and €200m.

Aerial photographs taken by Guileen Coast Guard, published in Ireland and abroad, showed the shocking extent of the flooding, with major routes and open spaces submerged.

The forthcoming protest follows on from one carried out outside the council’s offices in County Hall at the end of last month. Both protests come despite a pledge by OPW Minister Kevin 'Boxer' Moran to speed up a €5.8m scheme designed to protect homes from flooding.

Set up last year, most of the 725 valid applications for the Midleton and East Cork Individual Property Protection (IPP) Scheme have yet to be completed.

Of the two types of barriers, the council is still tendering for 831 slot-in, slatted personal flood barriers which are placed in stages one on top of each other through a permanently fitted frame on either side of each door they are used for.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Of the other, cheaper expandable barriers, some 60% of the 1,125 needed have been delivered to homes, according to officials at the council’s quarterly Midleton Flood Committee meeting at council offices in the town.

However, Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group’s Caroline Leahy has pointed out that this does not mean that all of those houses are now protected.

“Most houses are going to need two different types of barrier,” she said. “There is likely to be the cheaper, expandable barriers at the front and a slatted but more expensive one at the back.

“The stat of 60% delivery is all well and good, and not unwelcome by any stretch of the imagination but most houses have two entrances, front and back. One barrier — regardless of what type it is — is not going to be enough.”

WEATHER CENTRE

Check out the Irish Examiner's WEATHER CENTRE for regularly updated short and long range forecasts wherever you are.