THE GOVERNMENT has announced funding of €4.6 million over the coming year for the completion of the Cobh landslide programme in Co Cork.
Cobh has a history of landslides which pose an ongoing threat to public safety. Incidents over the past 30 years have caused damage to property and claimed the life of a child in 1980.
The funding, announced yesterday by Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan, marks an increase on the original allocation of €3 million for 2012. It adds to the €2.8 million grant aid paid to the councils in 2011.
The kind of works to be completed include the clearing of vegetation and the anchoring of steel-retaining plates in the rock face. The slopes are then covered with mesh and sprayed with concrete.
The funding will allow for the completion of works based on an engineer’s report that identified 37 slopes and walls that were at most risk.
Substantial works have already been completed at Wolfe Tone Street, Harbour Row and Bellevue School.
The funding will allow works to be completed this year at Harbour View, Harbour Terrace and Willmount, among other locations.