A team of Irish geologists is to assess the risk of landslides, flooding and other "geohazards" at a major conference next month.
The assessment comes as north Mayo and south Galway prepare to mark the first anniversary of last year's landslides which cause millions of euros of damage.
According to the Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI), continued expansion of the Irish economy, major infrastructural developments and climate change may contribute to an increased occurrence of such "geohazards" unless preventative measures are taken.
Geohazards are occurrences that pose a threat to people, property or the environment and can be caused by natural or man-made events. The Pollathomas landslide in north Mayo on September 19th last year was caused by freak weather.
The ESB has accepted that construction work caused the landslide at Hibernian Wind Power's €60 million development at Derrybrien in south Galway last October. The IGI confirmed that guidelines it prepared for Government which might have ameliorated the circumstances of the second occurrence, had been ignored. The IGI had recommended that the geology chapter of an environmental impact statement should be signed off by a professional geologist and that professional geologists should be employed by county councils.
These issues, and the threat posed by radon gas and its particularly high incidence in Castleisland, Co Kerry, will be debated during a conference hosted by the IGI in Dublin Castle on October 4th.
