We must face up to the travesty that was flooding the Gearagh

Finally the word is out on the damage caused by the flood waters of the Lee back in 2009. In the interim, thousands of Corkonians have watched the film, River Runner, which gives a cinematic, detailed account of the true story of our ancient and well-loved river.

Many of your readers who have viewed the film have admitted that they simply were not aware of the damage those twin cathedral concrete structures, put in place in the 1950s to generate electricity for Cork, caused to the runs of wild Atlantic salmon, trout, and eel. As of 1957, the Silver Lee was no more.

The sad and extraordinary clear felling of our inland river forest delta in the upper Lee Valley would be unthinkable today. One must consider that thousands of Irish oak and yew trees in this ancient alluvial river forest spread their roots and acted as a huge natural soaking ground and flood barrier in the Upper Lee Valley.