Mystery over Ahare River flood works
THE IDENTITY of the individual who removed sand from the Ahare River, re-routing the natural flow of the river in the process, remains a mystery.
Wexford County Council confirmed that the work, which has caused widespread damage, was not authorised.
Local resident Cathy Lee, who has been keeping a daily river diary, came across the damage when she arrived to take her daily recordings.
‘I contacted Wexford County Council to ask if this was their initiative and was told they had no knowledge of such an action. By my calculations, this incident took place between 2 p.m. and 11 a.m. over the first Sunday and Monday in February. Nobody saw it happen but the sequence of events speak for themselves.’
Wexford County Council have been investigating the case but local authority work to resolve the flooding issue at Ahare will continue as planned.
THE IDENTITY of the individual who removed sand from the Ahare River, rerouteing the natural flow of the river in the process, remains a mystery.
Wexford County Council have confirmed that the work, which has caused widespread damage in the area, was not authorised and are actively investigating the incident.
Local resident Cathy Lee, who has been keeping a daily river diary for the last number of months, came across the damage when she arrived at the scene to take her daily recordings.
‘Straight away I contacted Wexford County Council to ask if this was a County Council initiative and I was told they had no knowledge of such an action. By my calculations, this incident took place between 2 p.m. and 11 a.m. over the first weekend in February although I’m not sure whether it happened in daylight or at night, but certainly nobody saw it happen.
‘The sequence of events speak for themselves. The situation with the Ahare River is a complex one which requires studies and analysis working with nature and incorporating the best practice in engineering, for people’s safety, protection of the river, fish stock and biodiversity.
‘As a community we have got to work together to find solutions that work with nature and preserves the integrity and beauty of our environment. There is no quick fix to this, but this action was not sanctioned by the County Council and it risks disturbing fish.
‘The Council are going to have to look into this and find out who is responsible. I’m certainly not pointing the finger and there is no ‘them’ and ‘us’. I don’t know who is responsible for what happened but they did not have any permission or licence to undertake that work’.
Wexford County Council have been investigating the case.
‘The Council’s Environment and Planning Departments are investigating the matter. As part of a study that we are involved in we regularly inspect the area but monitoring it as an environmentally protected area is responsibility of the National Parks and Wildlife.
‘The extent of the damage is current being assessed’.
Since a campaign began last year around the issue of flooding at Ahare, the matter has been brought up at local Council meetings.
Cllr Joe Sullivan was appointed as the local representative in the working group and a meeting was later held with Minister State for the Office of Public Works and flood relief, former TD Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran.
On the weekend that this action took place, Cllr Joe Sullivan confirmed that he was away from Gorey and was unaware of it.
‘I have since went down to have a look at the river after storm Ciara and Dennis. I noticed that the level of the river didn’t rise, in fact it’s considerably lower and the water is flowing a lot faster.
‘We are still going ahead with the studies and strategy work, that’s moving along as we speak. The good news is that the road at the Ahare bridge remained passable during the storms. Nobody has complained to me since the river has been cut, which I suspect happened on February 2. The road hasn’t been impassible’.
A spokesperson for Wexford County Council said that progress is being made on the Ahare project overall, with work continuing and consultants being engaged with to work on a potential solution for the flooding issue.
When asked if the latest unauthorised development would put any halt to the progress of the project, the spokesperson said ‘absolutely not’.
Meanwhile last week, a wooden pedestrian bridge to the beach from nearby homes was damaged as parts of it fell away during the storm.
As a result, debris of wood, sand and other materials gathered at the mouth of the river at the beach.
Sea water has also been moving up the river with high tide and large waves and local resident Cathy Lee described the flooding as extreme.
‘During storm Ciara, the land on the floodplain and road was again flooded for most of the day with cars unable to get through. On Monday at high tide the mouth of the channel at the estuary, and I’m not exaggerating, was the width of a four lane motorway with tide surges and waves swiftly crashing inland. Coastal erosion was very evident on the beach following the storm, with the amount of headland scrub and timber planks, the remnants of steps and stairs leading to properties further along the beach.
‘It’s very clearly signposted that no plant or machinery may undertake any removal or displacement of materials under beach regulations by order of Wexford County Council. This law has been violated with resulting environmental impact and it’s unacceptable’.
According to the 2005 beach by-laws, penalties of up to €1,270 apply to any breaches.
‘We all need to foster a love of place and this latest action is just disheartening, I’m in a sense of shock as I just can’t believe it. I’m emotionally frustrated that we are not working together as a community and I’m angry that people took the law into their own hands without consultation or dialogue with their community. I’m trying to be balanced, but I just want the best for our community and for nature. I feel this was strategically planned, and done without anybody being able to see what was happening and I’m concerned that there may be more attempts,’ said Cathy.
‘The actions taken have not resolved the flooding situation, in fact it has made it more vulnerable. The ends justified the means to the people that went about it. There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things,’ she said.