Flooding victims stage street protest

Flood victims from the Ringsend and Irishtown areas of Dublin took to the streets yesterday to protest at the Government's failure to allocate funds to sheet pile the River Dodder to prevent further flooding.

Warning the situation was urgent, the residents pointed to a report commissioned by Dublin City Council which stated the Dodder Bank in front of their homes was in imminent danger of collapse.

The residents have spent some €80,000 on rebuilding their homes after flooding last February.

Mr Maurice Sheerin, Secretary of the Ringsend and Irishtown Flood Committee, said some €1.5 million was needed for the necessary works.

With the cost of last February's floods estimated at some € 20 million, the failure to grant the funds smacked of "Banana Republic" politics, he said.

Mr Sheerin said the communities were facing further high tides this winter and many older people lived in the area.

He said Dublin City Council was told at a meeting with Government departments in July to reapply in 2003 for funding for the project but was given no assurance they would get the monies.

"No one seems to want to tackle this problem," he said.

That was why people reluctantly took to the streets and they regretted the traffic disruption caused by the protest yesterday evening.

Labour Party Cllr Kevin Humphreys said the local community had been treated "disgracefully".

"The necessary funds should be made available immediately as this is an emergency situation with lives and property at risk," he stated.