Families hit by the flooding ‘must come before wildlife’

Date Published: 10-Dec-2009

THE welfare of families in South Galway – now in their third week of flooding hardship as water levels rose again over the weekend – must come before wildlife and environmental issues, according to one of the leading campaigners for flood relief measures in that area.

Mattie Hallinan, said that he never again wanted to see a repeat of the hardship that had been endured in the South Galway area – especially by mothers and children – over the past three weeks.

“Really we have to ask ourselves one basic question in 2009. What really matters in an area like Ardrahan, and Kilcolgan? Is it the welfare of the birds or the living conditions of ordinary people. The powers that be, really seem to have lost the plot on this issue,” said Mattie Hallinan.

Well over 100 families have been dependent over the past week, on getting to and from their homes via a tractor and transport box, while the army was also called in earlier this week to provide a school collection service.

According to Mattie Hallinan, the real heartbreaking aspect of the problem for local people, is that there is a ready solution to the flooding difficulty with the digging of a 220 yard trench from the back of Caheradoo Village – but this has been ‘choked’ by bureaucratic and environmental constraints, he said.

“A ‘half job’ was done back in 1995, but sadly the pipes put in place to take the water were way too small. If this pipe network was big enough and had been done properly, our flooding problems would have been solved this autumn,” said Mattie Hallinan.

He explained that traditionally the flooding in this area of South Galway worsened in the week or two after the bad rains, as the floods from the higher grounds made their way down to the sea – the water was at its highest level over the weekend and during the early days of this week.

“There are people in offices of the NPWS, the OPW and the various ministers in Dublin, who really couldn’t care less about the suffering of families along the Shannon. Their sense of indifference to what is happening is quite staggering,” said Connacht IFA Vice-president and Shannon Callows farmer, Michael Silke.

For the complete story see page 4 of this week’s Connacht Tribune