A Lisseycasey councillor is pressing Clare County Council to offer a solution to the Lough Donnell sluice problem at Clohaninchy saying it is “unfair” to the 30 or more local landowners who are affected. Local landowners are fearful that their properties could be flooded by seawater, which could cause significant damage to farm land.
Clare County Council said it continues to work to address concerns at Lough Donnell, and a consultant representing the Council met the contractor on site in late February to inspect the culvert.
The local authority said a report looking at the options to provide an engineering solution will be prepared, and the preferred option it decides upon will first have to be agreed with National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland.
Councillor PJ Kelly (FF) told Wednesday’s meeting of the West Clare municipal district that no progress has been made on the matter since he last raised it at December’s Clare County Council meeting. Highlighting that landowners there had been badly affected, he said the other concern was that the section that was put in at the pier, had cracked.
“I think the matter will have to be addressed. There are 30 landowners involved,” he said.
“At the last council meeting I asked was it at the right level or the wrong level. The architect said ‘I put it in where I was told to put in’, and the consultant then said ‘that is the right level’. The farmers who have been flooded know otherwise. It’s simple request, put in another solution at the proper level – it won’t cost much money and we don’t have to go through the same cosmetics that we went through in the past.
“Those people, 30 farmers or more have suffered inconvenience, devaluation of their property, and extra expense in feeding animals and so on,” said Councillor PJ Kelly.
“The matter will have to be addressed. It is unfair to the people and at the moment from what I can see, are all the excuses.”
Meanwhile, there has been more public awareness of the issue after local farmer and local election candidate, Joseph Woulfe, posted a video online last Sunday showing the first section of the culvert which goes into the sea breaking away from the main body of the tunnel, and with the water leaking out.
Mr Woulfe, who lives in the Quilty area, also highlighted local farmers concerns about the increased potential of flooding on their lands, and he has claimed it is inevitable the culvert will, at some stage fall apart.
When Councillor Kelly raised the issue at last December’s meeting of the local authority, he said the culvert needed to be raised in height by four feet, and it was the Council’s duty to fix it. He requested various information from the Council in relation to the sluice including the height over sea level of the previous sluice pipe as well as height over sea level of the new sluice pipe.
The original culvert at Lough Donnell, also known as the Quilty ‘model’ controlled the tidal flows to, and the overflows from, the Lough Donnell lagoon.
When the tide was in, it allowed saltwater to mix with the freshwater in the lagoon resulting in a rich diversity of plant and fish life in the lake. However, following storms in December 2007, the structure was extensively damaged and washed away. Construction of the new culvert to allow water pass from Lough Donnell to the Atlantic Ocean was completed in early autumn 2023. It is estimated that approximately €420,000 excluding VAT had been spent on the scheme to date.
In response to Councillor Kelly’s motion, John Leahy, Senior Engineer at Clare County Council’s project management office said that Clare County Council continue to work to address the concerns at Lough Donnell and the fears expressed by local landowners.
“A consultant for Clare County Council and the contractor met on site at Lough Donnell in late February to inspect the culvert and consider options to progress,” said Mr Leahy.
“Following this inspection, a report on the options to provide an engineering solution will be prepared and submitted to Clare County Council for our consideration.
“The preferred option will have to be agreed with National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland if it is to progress. Lough Donnell is a Special Area of Conservation, a Special Protection Area and an Annex 1 Coastal Lagoon habitat.
“Any works cannot have a negative effect on the conservation objectives of the lagoon and habitat.
“In parallel, Clare County Council have arranged a meeting with representatives of the local landowners to discuss the issues and agree on a way forward.
“Further progress meetings are planned with the landowners. We have also met with the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) and a representative of the local anglers.
“We will continue to liaise with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to find solution satisfactory to all parties.
“Clare County Council continue to monitor the water level and salinity levels of lagoon. This information will feed into the decision on a suitable option. Once a suitable solution is agreed, our consultant will prepare detailed design drawings.”
Sharon Dolan D’Arcy covers West Clare news. After completing a masters in journalism at University of Galway, Sharon worked as a court reporter at the Sligo Weekender. She was also editor of the Athenry News and Views.