DUBLIN CITY Council is to review its flood defence plan for Clontarf promenade, following a meeting last week of the council’s north central area committee, attended by local residents and business people.
Council officials accepted that the public consultation process surrounding the controversial plan, which was approved by An Bord Pleanála in July 2008, was “minimal” and “didn’t work”.
Tenders for a contract estimated to be worth €9.7 million for the flood defences, with walls and embankments up to 2.75m high, together with a new arterial water main are being examined.
Assistant city manager Seamus Lyons pledged that no contract for the project would be signed over the next three weeks while officials “re-engage” with Clontarf residents and business associations.
However, he made it clear that the council could not go back to “square one”. He also stressed that if the council did not draw down funding for the project, it was “probable” that this would be lost.
Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin and his party colleague Councillor Jane Horgan-Jones submitted a document to Minister of State for Planning Willie Penrose “outlining the deficiencies we see in the process”.
In a joint statement, both associations said there was no guarantee that the current plan would not go ahead, and there was now an onus on them to come up with an alternative in a “very short timeframe”.
They acknowledged offers of professional help already received and appealed to anyone with particular expertise in flood defence systems to get in touch by e-mail at info@clontarfresidents.com
