Flooding is a serious concern but will plan ever leave drawing board

LOUTH is under threat. Not alone from Brexit but from a greater natural force, the Irish Sea.

In recent times, winter storms have been more severe and more damaging for coastal communities and towns and villages at risk from deluged rivers bursting their banks.

We have seen damaging floods throughout the country over the past few winters and the pattern of damage seems more regular and severe.

Local communities here in Louth have also suffered from these storms, with tidal surges in Dundalk, Blackrock, Anngassan and in the Cooley Peninsula wreaking havoc, damaging homes, businesses and roads.

Few things can be more frightening for a home owner or business person than to see flood waters approaching their property. The storms of recent winters have seen catastrophic flooding around the country while the tidal surges of 1981 and 2002 caused a huge amount of damage in Dundalk, Blackrock and the Cooley peninsula.

Now, the OPW has prepared a series of plans for over 300 cities, towns and villages around the country deemed to be at significant risk which aim at providing flood protection at a cost of €853million.

In Louth, €85million is needed to protect homes, businesses, health care facilities, industrial premises and roads. The bill for projects required to prevent 1,400 properties in Dundalk and Blackrock from flooding is over €40million, while a further €21.6 million is needed for Carlingford and Greenore.

Other areas identified in the plans as being prone to flooding include Annagassan, Ardee, Termonfeckin, as well as Baltray and Drogheda.

They come about following years of detailed engineering analysis and entensive public consultation, including public meetings in Dundalk, Carlingford, Drogheda and Ardee, where local residents were able to outline their concerns, as well as briefings with local authorities.

The plans all require Ministerial approval and will then be presented to local Councils for adoption. After this, a programme for the implementation of capital works will be drawn up which will give an indication of when the works will be carried out.

So there is a plan in place, but there must a concern amongst communities right around the country whether the money will ever be spent in providing those flood defences.

€853 million is a huge amount of money and ten precent of that fund is earmarked for flood protection works in County Louth, with €40 million for Dundalk and Blackrock and a further €21.5 million for Carlingford and Greenore.

Even over the course of a ten or twenty year plan that is a still a very significant investment and you have to wonder if the plan will ever have high enough political capital to be carried out.

There will always been more pressing matters on the political agenda and coffers of the state.

Clearly as the report highlights there are cost benefits in protecting some parts of the coastline and some communities, while others will not get the protection.

The report has great detail and clear objectives, but whether that will ever be enough to see the costly works carried out is another matter.

Sadly, you fear that communities will have to endure the suffering and cost of further flooding events before real action will eventually be taken.