IN the aftermath of Storm Isha last weekend, Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary took issue with elderly people being left too frightened to sleep in County Limerick over fears of flooding.
At this Monday’s full meeting of Limerick City and County Council (LCCC), Cllr Keary referenced Storm Isha, which saw Met Éireann issue a status yellow wind warning for the county as it made landfall in Ireland.
“Thankfully there wasn’t too much damage around Limerick, but there was a lot of power outages and there was a couple of fatalities, one in Mayo and one in Louth,” Cllr Keary told the chamber.
“But saying that, we spent millions on flood defences in Foynes in County Limerick and is the third storm we’ve had in a couple of months. The defence walls have not been put up.”
In January and February of 2014, the highest tides ever witnessed in Foynes were recorded, resulting in flooding that caused major upheaval for residents and business owners locally.
Following this, in 2016, permanent infrastructure for a tidal defence barrier was erected in Foynes following approval by the government, through the Office of Public Works, as part of a €2.3million flood alleviation project.
Cllr Keary took issue this week that, after spending millions on defences, action was not taken during Storm Isha by the local authority to protect residents and businesses in Foynes by erecting the defence barriers.
“There were elderly people there last night living on Main Street in Foynes who couldn’t go to sleep in case the flood would come up on the streets. The answer Limerick County Council will probably give is that there wasn’t high tides forecast, but that doesn’t matter,” Cllr Keary hit out.
“It is the wind that drives the water and that creates a higher level of flood, so what did we spend all that money for if we aren’t going to use the bloody flood defence?
“I know they were erected in Limerick City, wherever they are located, so why is the likes of Foynes left unattended and in a dangerous predicament?”
In response, Director of Service Brian Kennedy explained that there was a particularly low tide, which may have seen a storm surge of about 1.45 metres, and no reported incidents of flooding.
“We always monitor these issues on a regular basis anytime there is potential flooding, for example last weekend the tides were a metre higher than they were this weekend,” he informed Cllr Keary.
The Adare-Rathkeale area representative hit back that all the houses on Main Street in Foynes are uninsurable as a result of previous flooding events.
”When we have the infrastructure in place we should be using it,” he concluded.
