Councillor flooded out of home says people are paying for a 'misguided' drainage report, writes LORNA SIGGINSin Ardrahan, Co Galway
BRIDIE WILLERS doesn’t take much solace in it, but she may be the best-informed politician in the west on the devastating impact of floods.
Eight days ago, the Fine Gael councillor had to leave her two-storey 250-year-old family home on the outskirts of Ardrahan, south Galway. Two days before, her 91-year-old mother, Biddy Fahy, had to be evacuated to her son’s home for safety.
Neighbouring homes and farms have been hit and minor roads are still impassable in places. Yesterday it was the turn of communities in Killamoran and Ballinastague, near Labane, north of Gort, as swollen streams over- and underground, running through turloughs, made their way to the sea at Kinvara.
“I have a particular anger about this, as it isn’t building on floodplains that is our issue here,” Ms Willers told The Irish Times.
“We love our turloughs here, we look after them, but we also have to live. In 1995, we were flooded badly, and my late father, who was ill, had to be taken out of the house.
“A report was commissioned from consultants Jennings O’Donovan of Sligo and South Water Global to look at ongoing flooding issues in south Galway,” she says. “That report said that the 22 million punt [old Irish pound] price tag on drainage work would have serious economic and environmental implications, and that it shouldn’t be spent.
“I had sandbags at my front and back doors last week, but all they did was filter out the rubbish. The water still came through the front door and up through the floorboards,” she said.
“I am not as bad as others as I don’t have a mortgage. But imagine what it is like for a young family with a mortgage, coming up to Christmas, forced out of a home that they can’t insure and can’t sell.”
A neighbour has accommodated the Willers family, and the councillor does not expect to be home by Christmas. “If that report on the 1995 floods had been implemented in 1998, what a difference it would have made,” she says.
“I know we have protected areas here under the EU habitats directive, but I question the way we implement that directive. I don’t think anyone in Europe would want us living in floods.”
“Throwing aid at this is not going to solve the underlying problem,” Ms Willers said, referring to the Government’s flooding aid package.
“Of course, €10 million will help, but we are not looking for compensation. We want to be able to live, and to think beyond today.
“This is affecting everyone – businesses in Gort have been so badly hit, and this is the last thing that they needed now. I don’t want to hear of another report being written when this is all over,” she said.
“I know when it comes to major infrastructural projects that the Government is able to find a way around the habitats directive,” Ms Willers added.
As rain continued to fall incessantly yesterday, feeding the Owenshree river near the Willers home and running off sodden land into subterranean waterways, there was only one small chink of light. The N18 Galway to Limerick route was reopened at Kiltartan, but with local diversions at Labane.