Part of a €48 million floodworks scheme in Kilkenny city, which has already cost four times its original estimate, is to be redesigned after it was discovered that errors were made in calculating water levels on the project, writes Liam Reid, Political Reporter
The Department of the Marine has confirmed that the wrong type of fish pass was built on the Lacken weir on the river Nore, and that it was too high for salmon to reach it because the water levels were too low.
The mistake has been blamed by Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher on incorrect water level measurements provided by consultant engineers to the department. The Office of Public Works has said the cost of rectifying the pass will not be significant in the context of the cost of the overall scheme.
However, local Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness has described the situation as "a monumental blunder" and said he had further concerns about the structure of the weir, which he believed was being undermined because of the miscalculations.
The project has already been before the Public Accounts Committee, following a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, that its current cost was €48 million, nearly four times the original estimated cost of €13.1 million in 1998.
Last January it emerged salmon were having difficulty using the pass, and emergency temporary measures were introduced to enable them to pass up stream. It was then believed that the problem was temporary due to unusually low water levels.
In parliamentary replies to Mr McGuinness, Mr Gallagher said that mistakes made during the design of the fish pass were to blame. He said that during construction of the scheme in 2003, staff at his department were consulted about the fish pass.
They were provided with measurements of water levels by consultant engineers and the Office of Public Works (OPW), which was designing the flood relief scheme. His department recommended a certain type of fish pass, which was built.
"It now transpires that the data provided by the consulting engineers in respect of these water levels was incorrect and that the downstream water level at the entrance to the constructed pass has been found to be lower than required for the normal operation of [the pass]," the Minister said. The pass on the river would be redesigned and extended during the summer.
Mr McGuinness said that because of the lower water levels, the weir was now under structural threat because of increased water pressure at its base, and he was now seeking a full engineers report on the potential problems.
Mr McGuinness, who is deputy chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said he would be asking the committee to re-examine the scheme later this year in the light of the new information.