Madam, - The recent natural disasters in New Orleans, Boscastle, Austria, Phuket, etc. linked, probably, to climate change, highlight the fact that no part of the world is immune to the effects of storms and sea surges. There is no fairy godmother holding back the tides and flash floods that could occur in Ireland.
We cannot control the weather but we can lessen the risk for many by paying more heed to where we build. Development on the banks of rivers, particularly those like the Dodder which are liable to flash floods, and on the coastline can only increase the possibility and effects of flooding.
Dublin City Council's proposals for building on land reclaimed from the sea, with city refuse, in Sandymount in the 1960s and 1970s are a case in point. Is it not time to reconsider these plans for an incinerator and what amounts to a new town on the euphemistically renamed "Poolbeg" peninsula in this light?
The sea will continue to try and take back what has been stolen from it no matter what we do. Sea surges do happen here. New Orleans has, unfortunately, proved that once water breaches the land it keeps on going.- Yours, etc,
LORNA KELLY, Castle Park, Dublin 4.