Sir, – In 1920, Cork was burnt by the Black and Tans, but the city’s unique character and identity survived and recovered. The proposed OPW flood relief plan for the city, if approved, will succeed where the Black and Tans failed, and cause immeasurable and permanent cultural and psychological loss for this and future generations.
In economic terms, the plan sacrifices irreplaceable aspects of the city’s built environment, damages Cork’s economy and limits its tourist potential.
But there is a more fundamental argument to be made, too, one that says that history and beauty and landscape are intrinsically valuable, and that we are impoverished as humans when we cast aside these things in favour of the outdated brand of progress being touted by the OPW.
Replacing cast-iron railings and limestone with huge quantities of concrete and ugly berms, more suited to wartime defences than everyday civic life, will not solve Cork’s flood problem.
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The new walls will not only block access to and views of the Lee but will force more water into the historic core, and may cause flooding in previously safe areas.
When the walls fail, as international experience tells us they will, the physical damage to the fabric of the city will be unprecedented.
The emotional damage to the citizenry will be no less costly. – Yours, etc,
CATHERINE KIRWAN,
Cork.