‘Mind-numbingly slow’: Why Midleton residents are still waiting for flood relief
The River Slaney bursts its banks in Enniscorthy during Storm Chandra, causing severe flooding in the Co Wexford town. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins
If life for people in and around Midleton is anything to go by since floods devastated their homes in 2023, those hit by Storm Chandra face years of frustration and delays.
Residents of the East Cork town and surrounding villages say they remain frustrated with the State’s response to Storm Babet, which struck in October 2023.
Flash floods ripped through the town, leaving main roads and most open spaces submerged under water.
The floods, which local Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor described at the time as “biblical”, damaged more than 400 homes and 286 businesses.
Some residents have admitted to suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression — and live in fear their homes will be flooded again.
Indeed, a resident of a nearby village regularly hit by floods was close to tears in the Oireachtas last November as she pleaded for urgent action to protect communities.
TDs heard Gleann Fia Residents Association secretary Vivienne Jeffers describe her village of Mogeely as a place where residents still “live in fear every time it rains”.
That hearing was a far cry from the aftermath of the storm, when a stream of politicians gave assurances about what would be done to help them.
Statements in the wake of Storm Chandra have rung alarm bells for residents in East Cork.
After viewing extensive damage to homes in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, caused by Storm Chandra — the town has been flooded 16 times since 2001 — Taoiseach Micheál Martin said, “I’m not going to pretend one can wave a magic wand” to deliver flood relief schemes to the town and others like it.
He made the comments while standing beside OPW minister Kevin Boxer Moran, who last May told the Dáil if he “had a magic wand” he “would be out there waving it” to tackle well-documented flood relief scheme delays.
In 2018, he told the Seanad: “I do not want to give any guarantees I have a magic wand I can wave that will sort out the problem overnight.”
Midleton resident Caroline Leahy, whose home was flooded in 2023, said she was tired of the “magic wand” quote.
The legal secretary, who is a member of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group, told the : “There is something so patronising about evoking magic wands.
“What we have always wanted, and what those affected by Storm Chandra will want in the coming months and years, is action.”
Residents point to what they see as shortcomings in the State’s response to the flooding in Midleton, warning it does not bode well for communities in counties recently devastated by Storm Chandra.
One concern is the completion timeline for the Midleton flood relief scheme.
Records dating back to the 1880s show the town — located in a low-lying valley at the junction of the Owenacurra and Dungourney rivers — has flooded regularly, underlining the long-standing need for a flood relief scheme.
The current scheme dates back to 2010, when a draft Lee Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management study was completed. It recommended a raft of measures, including the construction of permanent flood walls.
Planning for the scheme did not formally start until 2016, when the completion date was initially set at 2029.
After Storm Babet, this was pushed back to 2030. That deadline has since slipped again, with “substantial completion” now scheduled for 2031.
Given major flood relief schemes take an average 11 years from start to finish, according to the OPW, the Midleton scheme is on course to take at least 15 years.
Cork County Council told the in February 2024 the plans would be submitted to An Coimisiún Pleanála in September 2025. Mr Moran, the OPW minister, told the Dáil last October submission would take place by the end of June this year — a deadline that has since changed.
The OPW confirmed this week plans would not now be submitted until the end of September.
Costs are also going up. In May 2024, the “estimated cost” of the scheme was €50m — three times the original estimate. The OPW said this “reflects the increase in scale and complexity” of the scheme.
It has since revised this figure to €58m. It explained major flood relief schemes involve complex engineering and construction operations, requiring lengthy planning lead-in times.
The OPW said: “Midleton has proven to be one of the most complex schemes with flood risks from four sources — fluvial, tidal, groundwater, and pluvial. [It is] probably the only scheme in Ireland which deals with all of these types of flooding on such a scale.
The delayed OPW-funded €5.8m individual property protection scheme is another “bad omen”. The Midleton and East Cork scheme was announced in October 2024, with the county council saying delivery would begin in early 2025.
The scheme would see the provision of up to 2,000 flood mitigation barriers for doors and some other openings. Up to 725 properties were to benefit from the scheme.
It is now not due to be completed until later this year. Some residents have gone ahead and had their own barriers fitted rather than wait any longer.
A council spokesperson told the : “The scale of this scheme vastly exceeds that of any similar scheme delivered in Ireland previously. The challenges include the availability of the significant number of barriers required in the marketplace and the availability of contractors to deliver the builders’ work.”
They added both they and the OPW are “continuing to use all avenues to deliver the scheme as quickly and efficiently as possible regardless of the significant challenges”.
Up until January 30, a total of 1,085 barriers had been delivered to properties, with 1,017 fully operational.
Outstanding civil works are needed to ensure frames for fitting the barriers can be put in place at 68 openings, where property owners have already received barriers. These will be completed “in the coming weeks”.
The council said civil works for the larger and more complex openings had commenced, and the first delivery of these barriers had been received.
The lack of a council or OPW-run flood early warning system in Midleton, which has been hit by 11 major flooding events since November 2000, is another bone of contention.
In February 2024, the asked why the town did not have one. A council spokesperson said “a flood warning system for Midleton would not be effective”. It said this was because “by the time water levels in the river trigger a warning, there would be very limited time to prepare for the event and enact any emergency response”.
However, a designer from New Zealand who has settled in the town has proved the council wrong.
In response to Storm Babet, Colin James set about designing and implementing the Midleton early warning system (Mews). It was inspired by New Zealand’s tsunami early warning network, which tracks sea-level changes and provides real-time data as events unfold.
Mr James launched Mews last May. It sends alerts to 5,000 registered users when water levels in the East Cork town’s Owenacurra River and its tributaries rise more than 50% above normal.
The data comes from 17 sensors monitoring river levels, which an AI bot analyses in seconds to calculate flow rates. Texts are automatically sent after each significant increase beyond a set threshold.
On November 11, 2025, the system recorded its highest readings since it launched, with more than 50,000 texts sent about two alerts of water levels being 50.1%, then 53.2%, above normal.
However, because the increase occurred gradually over several hours, the system calculated a low flow rate.
This indicated that although river levels were high at the time, they were not rising rapidly enough to signal a risk of severe flooding.
“It works and it is ludicrous this system has not been adopted by Cork County Council,” said Mr James.
The council said: “The Taoiseach has indicated in recent days that reform is being considered for how weather warnings are issued by Met Éireann.
“Cork County Council is prepared to co-ordinate with the relevant agencies in this regard.”
The OPW said it "is making arrangements” to meet with Mr James about Mews.
Ms Jeffers said: “We all feel the pain of those affected by the latest flash floods. But if the experience of those of us in Mogeely and in Midleton and other villages is anything to go by, they could well end up getting the same sort of political back-rubbing and promises we fell for."
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