Council and OPW to discuss flood barrier relocation

CLARE County Council has agreed to discuss the possible relocation of the flood protection barrier at Shannon Banks with the Office of Public Works following a request from a local county councillor.
Councillor Pascal Fitzgerald requested the council to move the barrier beyond the footpath in Shannon Banks at a Killaloe Electoral Area meeting in Westbury last week. Up to 22 families in Shannon Banks had to leave their homes during the flooding last November.
The new section of earthen embankment includes a substantial amount of stone wraps around the rear of houses in Hamstead Park, which was one of the areas worst hit by the flooding.
The OPW has built up lower parts of the existing riverbank further up the Shannon Banks estate at College View Drive and Riverside Drive.
Resident Mike Mooney said there was three to four feet of water outside his house, which, thankfully, didn’t get in. This was the third time this area was flooded after the River Shannon bursts its banks in 1996 and December 2000.
Councillor Fitzgerald queried if the barrier is going to be removed or is it staying in its present location in the near future? He also expressed concern about the damage caused to footpaths during the construction of the earthen bank and wondered when they would be repaired.
Councillor Cathal Crowe tabled a similar motion calling on the council to repair all damaged and broken footpaths in the Shannon Banks housing estate and tidy up and landscape the new river bank built by the OPW. He claimed that some residents’ back gardens are inaccessible because of the way the earthen bank had been built in haste during the flooding crisis.
Senior executive engineer, Seán Lenihan, said the earthen bank was constructed under difficult conditions over a short period as a defence mechanism to protect against rising water levels last November and December.
“At the time, the river level was considerably higher with further increases forecast. It is a necessary piece of infrastructure that will need to remain but it is accepted that further works are necessary in terms of landscaping if it is to remain in its present location.
“However, it is my view that it may be possible to relocate it nearer the riverbank now that the waters have subsided. The council will be discussing this issue and other related issues with our colleagues in the Office of Public Works in the coming weeks,” he said.
Acknowledging that a number of footpath locations throughout Shannon Banks required attention, Mr Lenihan confirmed he had provided some funding in this year’s discretionary works programme for footpath improvement in the general area.