Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Mr. Patrick O’Donovan TD, met this week with senior engineers and management of Cork County Council to discuss progress on flood relief works in the County.

During a visit in August 2020, the Minister saw first-hand the damage caused by flooding when he visited Bantry, Dunmanway, Rosscarbery, Skibbereen and Bandon. At this week’s meeting the Minister was updated on progress by Cork County Council Chief Executive Tim Lucey, County Engineer Kevin Morey, and the Managers for the County’s three Divisions.

Speaking after the meeting, the Minister said:

I am satisfied that Cork County Council are fully committed to addressing the flood risk in the areas that were affected last August, and are working together with my team at the Office of Public Works, and other agencies who have a role to play in resolving some of the issues that were witnessed during a particularly wet period last year. I also welcome the significant collaboration between the staff at the Office of Public Works and Cork County Council in the work that has been completed on flood defences in many of the main risk areas across the West and North of the county.

The Minister also visited Fermoy to view the flood relief scheme currently in operation and received an update on the pump failure that led to 3 properties experiencing minor flooding last week. Commenting, the Minister said:

The Fermoy scheme has been in operation for the past 10yrs and has been fully successful during 2015 and other flood events, as well as providing very significant levels of protection during the Orange Warning rainfall event in late February. It has been calculated that this event would have caused flood damage to some 80 properties were this scheme not in place. It is unfortunate, however, that due to an apparent malfunction of one specific element of the infrastructure on this occasion, which is currently being investigated, 3 properties were affected. What we need to ensure is that appropriate measures are taken to ensure such an event cannot happen during future flood events, and I have received such assurances from Cork County Council pending a review of the incident.

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