Flooding fix years away despite Kilkenny councillors' pleas

A  Kilkenny Council meeting on November 28, saw consensus across party lines about the need for urgency about the issue of flood relief works in the county. One after another councillors expressed the opinion that the commencement of flood relief works needed to be accelerated. 

Cllr Michael McCarthy (FF) stressed it was ‘imperative to prioritise flood relief for Freshford as people are afraid to go asleep in their houses’. 

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Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh (FG) said that the recent flooding had been ‘horrendous’ and that people are ‘absolutely incensed that no work has been done’. She described septic tanks overflowing into houses and asked when exactly works would be undertaken as ‘people in Freshford are terrified’.  

Cllr Deridre Cullen (FF) said that the Thomastown Municipal District had been ‘pleading for a start date to the Minister’ and acknowledged that ‘the delay was not on the Kilkenny end’. 

Cllr Joe Lyons (FG) said of the King's River which has flooded three times that it was simply ‘devastating’ for people. Similarly, Cllr Michael Doyle (FG) said he was ‘extremely disappointed it has taken this long’ for progress to be made and that ‘frustration is  now very high’. He cited trees being left in the river as the relevant bodies won’t allow their removal and emphasised that rivers need to be ‘clear and free’. 

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Cllr Tomás Breathnach (Lab) queried if the allocated €28.9 million was now adequate for the works, bearing in mind recent inflation.  

Cllr Maria Dollard (Greens) said that flooding was a complicated issue with ‘nitrification’, ‘algae overgrowth’ and the ‘severity of flood events’ all contributing to the issue. She highlighted recent incidents on Michael’s Street where the overflow of a storm drain connected to a sewerage pipe led to raw sewage in people’s gardens and the Lake School. 

Cllr Peter Cleere (FF) raised the issue of the Quay wall in Thomastown where subsidence is present and there is a ‘severe likelihood’ the wall and road may fall into the river. He implored that ‘we prioritise that work’ before there is a loss of life. 

Cllr Pat Dunphy said that the ‘timeframe was too long and we need to get at the whole lot of it’ as ‘things are probably going to get worse’. Cllr Fidelis Doherty (FG) asked if locations could be surveyed to assess risk. 

Cllr Denis Hynes (SF) said “ We need accountability here and that very little if anything has been done.” 

Tim Butler  Council Director of Services said they were prioritising the locations that had the most homes at risk, requested patience and said ‘We are working as quickly as we can.” Seamus Kavanagh the Senior Engineer said they were aiming to address ‘quick wins’  first like the the Quay wall in Thomastown but that it may be 'five to six years minimum' to get flood relief schemes in place.