Kerry residents left in ‘limbo’ as vital flood defence plans jammed between government agencies

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

North Kerry residents are anxiously awaiting funding for flood defences as the threat of another catastrophic flood looms.

Residents of Ballylongford say they are “stuck in the middle” as government agencies add what locals see as further hoops to jump through before vital defence works can commence.

The village was flooded in 2002 and 2014, during ‘perfect’ storms, where the river burst its banks and penetrated an open sewage system, coming up through outdoor drains and sink and bathroom plugs.

Kerry County Council has since raised the Ballyline River’s banks to a much-improved standard but issues with the sewer system persist.

The Office for Public Works (OPW) has created a proposal for improved flood defence walls, but due to around 15 properties discharging untreated sewage into the river, Uisce Éireann has commissioned the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to assess the water quality before they address the situation.

However, according to Councillor Michael Foley, the OPW has now said it also is waiting for the EPA to carry out its investigation before they can invest in defence works for the village.

They claim the waste water could be hazardous for workers building walls along the river.

“The OPW is saying as long as the EPA is investigating this situation, we’re not going invest any money, meanwhile you have people living in the village, with the potential of their houses getting flooded because of this problem,” said Cllr Foley.

To complicate matters, Uisce Éireann said the village properties that are not connected to the sewer network are the council’s problem, despite the council having already handed over the area’s water infrastructure to the agency.

Andy Walker, a Ballylongford resident living in one of the roughly 50 properties affected by the previous flood and a long-time activist for improved defences, expressed his despair at the situation.

“We are stuck in the middle while this happens…unfortunately we don’t have one minister who’s over all those agencies that can say, ‘lads pull your finger out and get to work,’” he said.

“Not doing flood defences isn’t doing anything to solve the problem of these [disconnected] properties…it just leaves us in absolute limbo. It doesn’t solve either problem. It just stops the work where the money is actually available.”

“We think that’s very unfair to the entire village. Obviously, those that suffer personal loss and damage, its traumatic, but if you lose the heart of your village…it’s very bad for the whole community.”

Andy has lived in the village for over 30 years and had his house breached in both 2002 and 2014, causing tens of thousands of euros in damage. These floods occurred when a combination of weather elements come together – strong winds blowing up the Shannon estuary causing a storm surge, an exceptionally high tide and heavy rainfall.

Andy was lucky enough to have house insurance on both occasions, but others in the village were not, many struggling to take out policies after the first flood. Now no one within the flood zone can get flood insurance – never mind sell their house - so any breach of the defences could be even worse.

“If there was a repeat…we’d lose the shop, ultimately can people keep on repairing their house after the flood or will they just abandon in the properties in the centre of the village?” Andy asked.

“Even as they put individual properties as safe, the number of properties we could potentially lose would take the heart out of the village…everyone wants to see change.”

Noel Lynch, a member of Ballylongford Enterprise Association, said the main issue for attracting businesses in the village was the lack of potential workers.

He said the rejection of planning permission for new houses on land considered at risk, wasn’t helping, and asked the council to zone land in the settlement for residential use.

With the planning application by Shannon LNG for a liquefied natural gas terminal near Ballylongford, Mr Lynch is hoping the opportunity could help attract people to the town and rejuvenate the village.

Michael Finucane, who runs his namesake pub in the village, had the back of his premises flooded in 2014. He said as individuals, there was very little any of them could do to protect their homes in a flood event.

“We’re living on the edge with global warming and water levels rising,” said Michael.

It comes up the drains, you can’t win…we just get used to it. We bail the water out again, we have all the plugs applied in the walls. When a storm’s coming, we put up everything out of the way. And it’ll take its course; there’s nothing you can do.”

Cllr Foley has submitted a freedom of information request to understand where the EPA are at with their investigation. Ultimately, he said, Uisce Éireann has to take responsibility for the open sewer network and work to solve the issue.

“If we got the perfect storm...it would be a disaster, you can imagine your house wrecked and how long would it take to get over it…the people in the houses would be way happier if the defences were done,” said Cllr Foley.