Unconvincing: New flood plans rejected

The record in Cork of the Office of Public Works on managing rivers so that flooding might be minimised is not impressive. In Bandon and in Skibbereen rivers have been subjugated and transformed from things of beauty to industrial drains.

That record, and the insistence by Cork City Council, that a harbour barrage on the River Lee to try to prevent flooding in Cork City is at least half a century away must set alarmbells ringing — especially as warning after warning points to accelerating climate change and rising sea levels.