Kilkenny councillor expresses frustration over condition of local riverbanks

A councillor in the Callan-Thomastown Municipal District (MD) has expressed frustration over the health of the riverbanks.

”The state of the riverbanks are dreadful,” Cllr Joe Sheridan said at December’s sitting.

“It needs to be addressed,” he added.

Clarifying on who was responsible for the upkeep of riverbanks, Area Engineer, Declan Murphy, said it was the responsibility of landowners and not on the local authority to carry out necessary works unless its owned by Kilkenny County Council with the King’s River falling into that category.

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Mr Murphy outlined that private landowners must contact the OPW and other relevant environmental authorities before carrying out any work.

Earlier this year, the eyes of the bridge over the King’s River were cleared with phase two works scheduled to take place next summer with the project costing over a quarter of a million euro under Town and Village Renewal funding.

Presently, consulting engineers are being appointed to progress with the design of the works and tender process.

Meanwhile, at the same meeting, updates on two flood relief schemes (FRS) were outlined by Senior Executive Engineer, Philippe Beubry.

BALLYHALE - The construction of a new flood relief scheme is expected to begin in July 2025 with works expected to take approximately three months.

Currently, the project is at stage three with the preparation of detailed designs. Some works including tree clearance will be carried out in advanced of the main scheme. Trial Pits and silt trenches will also be carried out in that period to determine ground conditions, location of services and inform the detailed design.

GRAIGNAMANAGH - The completion of stage one is scheduled for February 15 with the preparation of planning documents expected to be submitted to An Bord Pleanala in the third quarter of 2025.

In preparation for works next year, five archaeological trenches were dug out on the Quay in the town under Ministerial consent. These tests were conducted in order to gather as much information as possible about the area from Duiske Abbey towards the River Barrow and to avoid any delay at the planning stage.

Elsewhere, initial flood protection measures planned for along the quay to Tinnahinch Castle and the Canal Loch gate property have been removed from the main flood relief scheme. The estimated cost of providing a flood wall was deemed excessive with discussions now ongoing homeowners in relation to providing individual property protection measures.