RIVER-STRUCK HOME IS JUST THE ‘TIP OF THE ICEBERG’ OF ABBEYFEALE ISSUES

Local contractors rally to aid Eamon and Marie Roche after part of property collapsed into Feale

ABBEYFEALE couple Eamon and Marie Roche are nearing the end of a nightmare year that cost them nothing less than a private pension after part of their riverbank dream home collapsed into the Feale.

But their erosion woes are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in the west Limerick town in what one local politician has described as an ‘appalling’ situation seeing both Limerick County Council and the Office of Public Works saying they are not responsible for addressing the erosion.

Decking at the rear of the Roche home fell into the river in November of 2017. The couple told The Kerryman that Limerick County Council informed them it could not afford the €500,000 it estimated permanent works would cost and that it was not responsible for erosion on the Feale.

They said the response was the same from the OPW, though that agency is responsible for the river just a few miles downstream in Listowel.

But this week the couple paid tribute to a host of local contractors

– including Fealeside Construction and Hilltwister Drills – who rallied to their side at their hour of need, eventually establishing a permanent river wall at the home for less than 20 per cent of the €500k Council estimate.

The Kerryman understands contractors did the job without regard to profit, with Eamon having to cash in a private pension to pay towards it.

“We got no help from either the Council or the OPW, who told us we were responsible for our stretch of the river,” Eamon said.

Local Sinn Féin County Councillor Séamus Browne made numerous representa- tions. “What happened the Roches was appalling but they are just the tip of the iceberg in Abbeyfeale as a lot of other properties and even the Town Park are under threat.

“The Feale is changing course in town, but for some reason we have the situation where neither Limerick County Council nor the OPW is apparently responsible for it – despite the fact that just down river in Listowel the OPW is responsible for the River Feale,” Cllr Browne added.

He said that one local has lost up to four acres to the river in the past year alone. Kerry TD Martin Ferris is to attend a Sinn Féin-organised meeting on the issue next month, meanwhile.

Photos by Domnick Walsh Eamon and Marie Roche with Jack Foley and Neilie Lyons of Fealeside Construction as embankment works (below) to protect their Abbeyfeale home near completion.