Tags: Ciarán Lynch, Cork, Dara Murphy, Inniscarra Dam, Ireland, Kathleen Lynch, Middle Parich, Oireachtas Environment Committee, politics, visit

OFFICIALS from the ESB strongly defended the company’s role during the recent flooding in Cork when they were questioned by members of the Oireachtas Environment Committee this week.

The Committee visited the Inniscarra Dam as part of a two-day fact finding visit to Cork to establish why the flooding on November 19th and 20th was so severe, causing an estimated €100 million in damage in the city and county.

The ESB have been criticised for not providing effective warnings on the night of November 19th when huge quantities of water were released from the Inniscarra Dam, about nine miles upstream from Cork city on the River Lee, effectively leading to the worst flooding ever seen in Cork.

During a presentation to the committee members, ESB Hydro Manager Glen Pope said, “The critical thing to underline is that the dams (Inniscarra and Carrigadrohid) were in no way threatened at any time,” adding that “2009 was the worst flooding on record but fell within the range of parameters that the dams were designed for”.

Mr Pope added that the ESB acted entirely appropriately and within all of the guidelines during the flooding event.

Liam Buckley, the plant manager at Inniscarra refuted accusations that effective warnings were not given on the day. Mr Buckley said that warnings were issued to local authorities, local media and the emergency services on the morning of the 19th and the “highly unusual step” of issuing a further flood warning was taken that evening.

Labour TD and committee member Ciarán Lynch asked was it made clear when the warnings were made that this was “a very serious situation”. According to Mr Buckley this was the case and the ESB had “fully complied” with its obligations to issue warnings. Deputy Lynch said that to prevent such severe flooding occurring again in the future a “proper risk assessment” was needed to establish exactly what the impact would be on areas down stream when specific volumes of water are released from the dam.

Local TD Kathleen Lynch added, “I’ve heard flood warnings all my life and you take it to mean that the Lee Fields or the cricket pitch will be flooded. A system needs to be put in place to escalate the level of warnings effectively so that this does not happen again”.

Nicholas Tarrant, a senior engineer with ESB Power Generation said that the problem was not the dam but the entire Lee catchment area. He said that many of the recommendations in the recent Lee Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study (LCFRAMS) if implemented would enable the ESB to more effectively manage water levels in the River Lee flowing into Cork city.

There has been some controversy over the, report published last week which recommends €100 million in flood relief works to protect Cork in the future. Minister of State at the Office of Public Works (OPW), Dr Martin Mansergh has already indicated that funding of €100 million plus will not be available to build defences in Cork in the current economic climate.

Earlier in the day the Committee met with Cork’s city and county managers and visited the Middle Parish area of the city to hear first hand from local people just how badly affected they had been by the flooding. Kevin Smyth from Grattan Street told the committee members that many local people were facing serious problems claiming for damage from insurance companies and said that the issue needed to be addressed urgently.

Also in Cork was Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday the Taoiseach said, “I think we understand this was a once in a century event. A huge amount of inconvenience was caused. We need to look at the planning framework and make provision for the future of the city

“What’s happening now is we need to see what has to be done and go about doing it. This is a matter of priority”.

He added, “The OPW will have plans and budgets over the coming years. Priority will be given to those projects which need it most once they all have been examined. The OPW will undertake technical examination to see what is the situation and what needs to be done. First they will be meeting with those involved in April to hear from everyone (all stakeholders) about what needs to be done”.

Cork’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Dara Murphy also presented the Taoiseach with a letter when he attended the annual Cork Chamber dinner at the Clarion Hotel. In the letter, the Lord Mayor said that not providing the €100 million required to completed Cork’s flood defences was “utter nonsense”.

The Lord Mayor said the cost of flood damage at UCC alone would run to some €40 million and that the final bill would be far in excess of €100 million.