Fear of major flooding crisis unless rivers are drained

FLOODING concerns have prompted an East Clare councillor to call for a full drainage programme for the Killaloe district, to avoid the risk of a “major crisis”. 

Councillor Pat Hayes appealed for a particular focus on the River Graney, its tributaries and the River Rhine, saying drainage and clearing of obstacles was “the only long term resolution”.

Addressing the end-of-year meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District, Councillor Hayes said the works being done by the Council were reactive, and not making a difference in the long run.

“There is a programme now for rewetting Ireland, but you don’t have to worry too much about that around here,” he remarked.

“A lot of work has been done in raising the roads. We are trying now to keep roads open. The idea you can raise road by two or feet isn’t solving the real problem. We have to come back to arterial drainage with all of the agencies involved. In Ayle in Feakle,  people couldn’t use the road recently due to flooding. Raising the road wouldn’t solve that. My concern is that we are going to have a major crisis some day. The focus is on taking water off road, but we’re not addressing the bigger issue.”

The Caher man noted that the River Rhine had burst its banks, flooding homes in the past. “We’re lucky we haven’t had floods in recent years, but the day will arrive,” he said.

“The core issue has to be addressed. We have to alleviate pinch points to let water run off. These are preventative works to stop roads flooding and keep the network open. At the moment, you’re just putting water into fields and areas where it can just come back out. We need to be far more proactive. We can’t continuously be reactive to floods. I hope we have a nice dry winter, but we are at high risk.”

Councillor Pat Burke  seconded the motion. “This has come up over the last number of years,” he said. “I would welcome the works for Mountshannon, but €204,000 [for the whole district] is just a pittance overall when you consider what’s needed. Flooding causes inconvenience and damage to roads. Back in the day, there were plenty of outdoor workers letting water off roads. Now we don’t see that. Local and minor roads suffer as a result. Some landowners are letting off water from the roads themselves, which is welcome because roads won’t survive otherwise.”

The Fine Gael member asked for clarification on which rivers came under the responsibility of the Office of Public Works (OPW), and he asked why the River Graney was not under its remit. 

“We had works done on a road and part of that road had to be repaired just last week, after spending a lot of money under climate mitigation,” he pointed out.

Councillor Hayes thanked Senior Executive Engineer Derek Troy for a detailed report on river drainage. The response outlined that €204,300 had been allocated in the Killaloe district for drainage works. “The funding grant has remained unchanged for several years,” the response noted.

“The primary focus of this funding is to deal with remediation and improvement of defective drainage systems, to help increase the longevity of road surface integrity. This funding can also be used to deal with off-road drainage issues such as catchments that are not functioning as efficiently as they should.”

The reply also contained a full break-down of the allocation across the district. It also outlined that an Appropriate Assessment (AA) Survey had been planned, but could not be done in a timely way due to “the complexities of the process”.

“Subject to funding, it is intended to complete the AA on the River Graney in 2023, in order that any future funding can be utilised with immediate effect,” the response added. The document also provided information on the Graney catchment and that the OPW has no drainage responsibility in the Killaloe district. 

Mr Troy told the meeting that September is the only month when the Council can carry out the required assessment. “The major issue is the funding,” he said. “Funds are targeted at road maintenance rather than wider issue of drainage of a catchment area.”