Call to reinstate town councils

Recent flooding in Cork could have been avoided if town councils were still operating in Ireland.

That’s according to Angela Hurley of Annie May’s Bar on Bridge Street in Skibbereen who feels that local knowledge is key to preventing such devastating occurrences as the recent flooding that particularly affected West Cork.

Ms Hurley, whose business barely escaped the flooding which caused massive damage to her neighbours, told the Cork Independent that she would welcome locally elected people who “know the geography of the town”.

“I can’t understand how somebody hasn’t the brain in their head to straighten up (the area known locallas as) The Cutting where the water comes down. I always maintain that if they would speak to the local people things like this could be avoided,” said Ms Hurley. “We have no town council here. We’d badly want to get back our town council. That’s what we want. We would elect responsible people that would know things about the town.”

More than 20 homes and businesses were damaged in Skibbereen during Storm Ellen last Wednesday despite an €18 million flood defence system being in place.

Ms Hurley continued: “It’s horrible, to go into those houses and smell the rot and the damp. I feel so sorry for those people. If something like that happened to my place I’d be in dire states.”

It is understood that a trash screen, which prevents debris from blocking water systems, was ready to be installed in an area known as The Cutting in Skibb before the arrival of Storm Ellen.Cork County Council has insisted that the flooding was not caused by a failure in Skibbereen’s main flood defence system and that the delay in installing the trash screen was due to Covid-19.

Last Thursday, the day after the storm hit, footage emerged of council workers installing the trash screen at The Cutting, said to be the source of the flooding.

There were similar scenes in Bandon and Bantry on Monday when Storm Francis caused significant flooding in the town. Bandon, like Skibbereen, has had a multi-million euro flood prevention system installed over recent years.

According to Cork County Council, Monday’s flooding which caused damage to approximately 20 properties, was due to the limited capacity of the pipes and the gullies in the system.

The council said that the OPW Major Flood Relief Scheme in Bandon is near completion and that its main aspects are fully functioning and performed well during recent weather events.Irish Water’s Bandon Main Drainage Scheme is also in progress which, when completed, will provide significantly increased storm water capacity.