PROPOSALS TO develop a €100 million flood relief plan to protect Cork city from any repeat of last November’s floods will be given the priority they deserve by the Office of Public Works (OPW), said Taoiseach Brian Cowen yesterday.
However, Mr Cowen refused to give any definite commitment to providing the €100 million identified by the OPW in its draft Lee Catchment Flood Risk Assessment And Management Study as necessary to prevent river and tidal flooding in Cork.
Mr Cowen said Minister for State with responsibility for the OPW Dr Martin Mansergh was seeking submissions from all interested parties by the end of April before finalising a plan.
“What happened here in Cork was unprecedented in many respects and we have to respond appropriately. And the first thing we have to do is talk to our technical people and everyone who has an interest in this area . . . and the OPW is the lead agency to deal with it . They’ve dealt with flood relief very successfully in other towns that have had perennial flooding problems,” said Mr Cowen.
Launching the plan in Cork this week, Dr Mansergh acknowledged the November 19th flood in Cork was “unprecedented”. “All I can say is that this Government is committed to spending increased resources on flood protection defences,” said Dr Mansergh.
He pointed out spending on flood relief had gone from €28 million in 2008 to €38 million in 2009 and to €50 million this year.