Gardai called in to South Galway flooding disaster

The Gardai have now been contacted over the dangerous posed to the farming community because of the major flooding crisis in South Galway.

The force have been asked to use their influence to try and get the Office of Public Works to carry out emergency flood relief measures.

It has been claimed that whole stretches of road are covered in that farmers are in danger of drowning unless they use tractors or jeeps.

“Some of the walls on either side of the roads leading to farms and dwellings and it is a living danger for the public”, Cllr. Michael Fahy from Ardrahan told Farming Tribune.

Cllr. Fahy explained that he has been “hemmed in” by the floods while four or five of his neighbours have also been affected by the floods which continue to rise.

He is not the first politician to be affected by the floods as his Galway County Council colleague, Cllr. Bridie Willers had to be evacuated from her home last weekend as the crisis deepens.

Thousands of acres of land across the county have been flooded by South Galway has again been worst affected by the heavy rains since the beginning of the year.

But apart from the dangers, it also has huge financial implications for farmers as they will not be able to put cattle back on the land for several months meaning a lack of fodder could become an issue.

It has been claimed that the construction of a dam three years ago has been mainly responsible for the flooding because a sufficient amount of water is not being released into the Aggart River which eventually flows into the Dunkellin River and out to the sea.

Cllr. Fahy is now looking for the OPW to dig a trench from the Ardrahan, Castledaly, Kilcreest and Peterswell areas all the way to the sea to release the water. He said that a similar scheme had been carried out in the Gort area following the major flooding in 2009.

“The OPW constructed a dam which is retaining the water in the area when most of this should be released into the Aggart River but despite intense lobbying, they have failed to act.

“All we are getting now are officials coming to the area and looking into acres of land covered in water which does not solve the situation as no action is taking place.

“The land in question will not be able to accommodate livestock until June at the earliest. But of even more concern at the moment is the danger it is posing to human life. That is why I felt obliged to contact the Gardai because there is a health and safety issue going on here”, Cllr. Fahy added.