Criteria for an appropriate flood relief scheme for Clonmel will be discussed with local authority officials and the community as a matter of urgency, the Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Mr Martin Cullen, said yesterday. Mr Cullen, who visited the South Tipperary town yesterday to consult officials and inspect the flood damage, said studies were already well advanced on possible options for a flood relief project.
The preliminary report of consultant engineers appointed by the OPW following serious flooding in 1996 was delivered to the Minister 12 days ago and is being examined by his Department. He is awaiting further reports from OPW field staff and engineers who have monitored the flooding in the area this week.
Mr Cullen said the proposed relief scheme was complex and some additional monitoring was ongoing and would be completed in a matter of weeks.
At that stage, the OPW would discuss the options with local officials. The objective, he said, is to develop criteria for a scheme which will be acceptable to local people.
The OPW would commission an Environmental Impact Statement on the engineering works suggested, and a cost/benefit analysis of whichever flood relief scheme is preferred will be undertaken. A public exhibition phase of the project would follow, and work could then commence, subject to funding being made available by Government.
The Minister said he was not in the business of instant solutions. The effect of the flooding was national.
Key areas had been identified, of which Clonmel was one. Nobody could legislate for an extreme aberration of natural phenomena such as had been experienced in recent days.
The consultants' report has not been released, but is believed to suggest a number of possible engineering options. One is thought to be the replacement of Clonmel's Old Bridge, which was the focus of extreme water pressure in the recent flooding episodes.
However, the Old Bridge, which was, coincidentally, strengthened in 1990, is an elegant and valued part of the town's historic built heritage. It is some 500 or 600 years old and there would be strong arguments against demolishing it.
Other options are thought to include widening the river channel below the town, which would involve a multi-million pound engineering operation.