Farmers don't need scientists to tell them that flooding is good for agricultural land. Alluvial mud is both rich and regenerating, and residents on many European rivers such as the Rhine and the Danube have known that for centuries.
Periodic bursts of river banks is a reality that many communities have learned to live with, and even benefit by. That's why draining the Shannon would never have been the answer - and most definitely not now, in a climate governed by EU environmental directives.
However, the severe flooding in the west and midlands over this past Christmas is an experience many farm families would not wish to repeat, and the farmers of south Galway are particularly weary. They face another serious fodder shortage if animals have to be housed later than expected because wet land, and the overflow of septic tanks along the Corrib system poses a pollution threat.
Another unmeasured variable is the effect the freshwater levels will have on the salinity maintaining the famous Clarenbridge oyster beds in south Galway Bay.
That's why there has been a warm welcome for the Government's allocation of £2.5 million towards south Galway relief works in the last Budget, and the subsequent decision by the Minister of State at the Office of Public Works (OPW), Mr Martin Cullen, to establish a steering committee aimed at deciding how best that money can be spent.
The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) south Galway chairman, Mr Michael Kelly, who did much to highlight the flooding over the Christmas period, expresses great confidence in the Minister's initiative.
Mr Cullen chaired the committee's first meeting in Gort, Co Galway, earlier this month, and among those present was his colleague, the Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mr Noel Treacy, who is credited with securing the funding. The committee comprises representatives of the OPW, the IFA and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA), Duchas and the local authority.
An extensive consultancy report on the last severe flooding in south Galway - 1994/1995 - had effectively ruled out possible remedial works, by estimating the costs at up to £40 million and stating that there were environmental restrictions. The wetlands of the limestone area comprise turloughs, marshes and lakes unmatched elsewhere in Ireland or the world. The consultants outlined steps which could be taken to minimise future flood damage; and stated that only the smallest of the proposed engineering schemes could be recommended on economic criteria.
The steering committee, chaired by the OPW, will have to take this Jennings O'Donovan study into account, and will also be bound by the EU Habitats Directive and associated environmental designations. However, the Minister of State has given it a tight deadline, with submissions being sought by early next month. Environmental impact studies (EIS) into viable proposals will have to be carried out, he told The Irish Times, following a final report from the committee which he expects "in the next few weeks".
"This doesn't mean we can't do things, but it does recognise the fact that we are living in a very different and complex world," Mr Cullen said. He believes that a single authority for the Shannon proposed by both Fine Gael and Labour late last week could end up as another layer of bureaucracy.
"It is too easy to say that all the bodies associated with the Shannon are in conflict and that responsibility is being abdicated," Mr Cullen says. "They have different perspectives, and what is required is more cohesion."
