Lee barrier could save us from floods

Some years back the planning talk was about a downriver crossing: will it be a bridge, will it be a tunnel?

A private engineer recommended a causeway crossing, complete with an internal lough, with sealed doors, so as not to interfere with shipping and a circular road around the lough so as not to interfere with traffic movement.

The door would be closed during a high tide or when an upriver surge with easterly wind was forecast (as in this past weekend) and the plans were published in the Cork Examiner. The proposal didn’t get a hearing from the Corporation or government because it wasn’t a political recommendation. Charlie Haughey said a tunnel, and a tunnel it was, when a causeway could have saved all this flooding.