Crucial flood defences on the northside of Cork city “will have to wait” as other projects in the city get under way this year and next, the minister overseeing the schemes has said.
Patrick O’Donovan, the junior minister with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), said he saw “no reason” the Glanmire flood relief should not begin this year following a contractor being appointed, while Morrison’s Island should begin next year.
However, Blackpool, on Cork’s northside, will take longer, he said.
Mr O’Donovan said tenders were expected for Morrison’s Island this year and would be “fair game” to begin once contractors were appointed, while Glanmire “hopefully” will see a contractor in the first half of the year.
“Blackpool is different because we still have to wait for consent to be given, which is a form of planning. Togher is finished, Douglas is finished. There’s a lot that we have already concluded, there’s a lot that we are just at the brink of being able to bring to the next stages,” he said.
Blackpool has traditionally been prone to flooding but there has been disagreement about how it should be protected.
Supporters of the OPW’s flood plan say it will bring security to businesses in the village that have been hit numerous times, while environmental campaigners say the planned defences fail to take into account the ecological factors and rich biodiversity in the area.
The Glashaboy river flood relief scheme has been mooted for over a decade since Glanmire was devastated by floods in 2012.
Mr O’Donovan claimed the various flood schemes were not in conflict with the Climate Action Plan and the climate law.
“From my perspective, the updated Climate Action Plan, if anything, reinforces the need for climate adaptation schemes, and I don’t necessarily just call them flood relief schemes.
“These are schemes that are designed to withstand events that have been modelled out into the future, in terms of the changes that we know are going to be forecast by way of what’s coming down the line from us from a climate change point of view,” he said.
Ireland has “two choices”, he said.
“We have a choice to continue with the system of
