Tiernan dismisses council flood-blame allegations

THE council’s senior engineer, Tom Tiernan, has rejected out-of-hand accusations that Clare County Council had exacerbated the impact of the flooding in Ennis because it had approved housing development on the natural flood plains of the River Fergus.

Mr Tiernan resolutely defended the council’s role in planning saying “they have been extremely conscious of the sensitivity of Ennis and its environs to flood events” particularly since the commencement of the development boom which evolved the last decade.
Speaking exclusively to The Clare Champion, he added, “throughout the boom period, all planning applications pertaining to sites in relation to which there were possible flooding implications were vetted thoroughly from a flood impact point of view. 
“All applicants had to demonstrate clearly using up-to-date scientific analysis that the developments they proposed would not in any way adversely impact on other property from a flooding point of view.”
Mr Tiernan accepted that the council has been criticised for allowing development on flood plains but he challenged those critics to back up their allegations with concrete and scientific evidence that it had contributed to the scale of the recent flooding.
“We wish to reassure members of the public that the planning process has always been conducted vigilantly ,particularly when it comes to dealing with sites which are in any way flood sensitive or where development of such sites could have adverse impact on other areas. 
“The Ennis Flood Study articulated the fact that the impact of development is minimal in a flood exacerbation context. The current flooding problems are extreme and equate to the 100-year flood event.
“The non-implementation of any of the development which has evolved in the Ennis area over the past 20 years would not have reduced the impact of the current flood event in any way. Any suggestions to the contrary should be backed up by whatever scientifically based evidence is being called upon to support such suggestions,” he declared.
Mr Tiernan explained that the town of Ennis and its environs has had a history of flooding problems over many years and this had manifested itself in various ways over two distinct periods. 
Prior to 1954 during high tide periods, estuarial waters regularly inundated the centre of Ennis.  After the construction of the Clarecastle barrage in 1954, the incidents of flooding in Ennis became much less frequent and had only occurred since then during periods of coincidence of high river flow and high tides.
“Following on from the severe flood event of January/February 1995, the council commissioned the Ennis Flooding Study. This was a thorough investigation by eminent experts into the root causes of flooding in the Ennis area and the report made a number of recommendations with a view to ensuring minimum flood impact going forward. 
“Some of the recommendations outlined details of construction works to facilitate protection of areas which had historically flooded periodically around Ennis town centre such as Parnell Street car park and other recommendations were to be used in facilitating planning and other processes. 
“Members of the general public will be aware that the construction-related recommendations are presently being implemented under the Ennis Flood Relief Scheme and the other recommendations are being implemented on an ongoing basis by the local authorities,” he added.