The owner of the Clontarf Baths in Dublin has described flood damage caused to the popular amenity as “soul-destroying”, saying “nothing has survived”.
Bobby Nolan, owner of the outdoor pool in Clontarf, anticipates overall damage costs of €50,000 “at a minimum”, saying everything has been “destroyed”.
On Thursday he drained the pool, which can hold 2½ million gallons, in anticipation of flooding and wave overtopping, believing this would offset damage.
“When I came back here yesterday afternoon, the whole pool and the bank was full up to the top of the wall,” he said.
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Beginning a cleanup on Friday morning, he said the damage was the “worst ever”.
“I opened here on June 30th, 2018, and I’ve never experienced anything like it,” he said. “It’s wiped out the plant room, it’s wiped out the lift.
“Everything is gone underwater. All our benches, our race lanes, our ladders, our steps, everything is destroyed.”
Nolan said waves began to overtop the wall in December and have been “brewing and brewing” since.
“The damage is huge. It’s like a bomb site.”
The baths are open to the public during the summer months, though the pool hosts events at this time of year, two of which have recently been postponed due to recent weather events.
Local Green Party councillor Donna Cooney described the damage as “heartbreaking” to see.
“The whole of the promenade was flooded,” she said, adding that it was “right up to people’s houses.”
“Nobody seems to be doing anything with urgency,” she said about flood defences. “We’re having more extreme weather events, one after the other, and we just don’t seem to be getting anywhere.”
Dublin City Council has previously said flood defences for Clontarf could be built by 2033 “if all goes well”.
Previous proposals for flood defences from the council over the years resulted in objections from residents due to concerns over the heights.
Cooney said she was “not confident” the defences would be in place by then.
“I’m actually very upset about it,” she said, adding that older residents in flood-prone areas of Clontarf have had to devise “escape routes” for future floods.
“That’s where we’re at, and I don’t think anybody is taking it seriously enough when people have to be talking about what sort of escape route they’re going to make from their homes,” she said.
Noting the “very severe” damage caused to the Clontarf Baths, local Independent TD Barry Heneghan said he was inquiring whether Nolan would be eligible for the humanitarian relief available to businesses affected by flooding, saying the amenity had “revitalised the area”.
Heneghan said he remained hopeful stakeholders would “come to a conclusion” regarding flood defences well ahead of 2033.
