HOMEOWNERS AND businesspeople in Cork have expressed their frustration with the Government, State agencies and local authorities over the failure to carry out repair works to the city's quay walls, a year on from a flood which caused €100 million worth of damage.
The north and south channels of the river Lee burst their banks on November 19th, 2009, flooding large tracts of the western side of the city, from the Grand Parade in the city centre to the Carrigrohane Road, by up to 2 metres.
Among the areas most badly affected were the Mardyke and Washington Street, where water from the south channel flowed across the Middle Parish, causing a quay wall at Grenville Place to collapse as it flowed back into the north channel. A year on, a 20-25 metre stretch of quay wall at Grenville Place is still missing.
Local residents and businesspeople gathered yesterday morning to mark the anniversary and express their frustration at the failure to repair the wall and prevent a repeat of flooding.
A spokesman for the Mardyke residents, Barry Keane, said it was incredible that a year on from the flood, that a piece of infrastructure, as important and as basic as a quay wall, had not been repaired.
Local people including the Mercy Hospital were thus exposed to a repeat of flooding.
"The authorities are asking for trouble and they are going to get it and people will suffer again," he said.
Accountant Ciarán Baxter, whose property at Grenville Place was badly flooded last year, said the failure to repair the quay wall was a symbol of the lack of action by the authorities to address the problem which threatened both businesses and residents in the area.
Fine Gael councillor Dara Murphy was lord mayor of Cork a year ago. He said yesterday that the Government had failed to deliver on promises made immediately after the flood that protection work would be carried out to prevent it recurring.
He said 12 months on, Grenville Place was a stark reminder of inaction. However, there were also concerns that no steps had been undertaken to protect the Lee Waterworks, which had to be shut down last year following the flooding - which led to a cut in water supply to thousands of homes.
A spokesman for the Office of Public Works said the agency had allocated €900,000 last June from its minor flood relief scheme to Cork City Council to allow it to carry out repair work at Grenville Place and other damaged quay walls.
A Cork council spokesman confirmed that preliminary design work was carried out from January until May this year, along with topographical surveys which were completed in May, with detailed design work on Grenville Place finalised in October.
Tenders were sought at the end of October for the repair work and completed tenders are due to be received at the close of business next Monday.
A council spokesman earlier confirmed that construction was likely to start late this year or early next year and would take 30 weeks.