South Galway farmers have reacted angrily to the recommendation that no major engineering works be undertaken to prevent the sort of flooding that turned their land to swamp in 1995.
The Irish Farmers' Association wants an urgent meeting with the Office of Public Works to explain the recommendations of its consultancy report, which rules out drainage works on cost and environmental grounds. The IFA says no effort was made to inform locals of the report's findings or seek views on its implementation.
Mr John Finnegan of the South Galway Flooding Action Group was disappointed, questioning the price tag for drainage works. People knew of the environment's importance, but potential flooding needed to be controlled, he said.
The three-volume final report estimates that a series of engineering works could cost £40 million, four times the cost of the mop-up. The study, published by the OPW yesterday after a long delay, is believed to be the largest inter-disciplinary research study of a karstic or limestone environment undertaken worldwide.
More than 200 families were affected by the 1995 floods in GortArdrahan, which cost about £10 million. Seven of the most affected families were paid £300,000 under a relocation scheme, and the Red Cross gave humanitarian aid from a European Commission fund. At the time there was much criticism of Galway County Council's decision to approve house construction on land known to be liable to flooding.
The final consultancy study, undertaken by Jennings O'Donovan, consulting engineers, and Southern Water, outlines steps which could minimise future flood damage costs. These include the use of planning and development controls to locate buildings away from potential flood plains and road modification. These issues are within the remit of the local authorities, the study says.
It identifies several engineering solutions but none of these is considered economical, based on a cost-benefit analysis which involved comparing the benefits to be gained from flood relief measures and the costs of implementing and maintaining them.
Such engineering solutions would also pose a threat to the environment, the study notes. The wetlands of the study area comprise turloughs, marshes and lakes unmatched anywhere else in Ireland or the world, and include a remarkable selection of plant species and communities.
The consultants conclude that only the smallest of the proposed engineering schemes, to alleviate flooding in Termon, could be recommended on economic criteria. But the Department of the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands has ruled this out, as it says it proposes to designate it as a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive. Ireland has already been threatened with EU court action over the delay in submitting the final SAC list to Brussels.
Noting that the worst-affected properties have been abandoned under the OPW relocation scheme, and that road flooding can be greatly reduced by protection works, the consultants say it is essential any future applications for planning permission in the study area be referred by the relevant planning authority to the OPW so that their location can be checked against the OPW's flood data.
Several home-owners said no one had warned them the land for which they had been given planning permission was prone to flooding.
