Residents still waiting for meeting on flooding with city officials

Residents of three apartment blocks in Salthill are still waiting for a meeting with city officials about flooding at Toft Park – six months on from when it was requested.

Last March, Galway City Councillor Niall McNelis asked engineers at the local authority to meet with Salthill residents, including those at Carraig Palmer, whose cars were ruined by floods while parked at Toft Park car-park.

As many as two dozen cars were flooded in January and last August as high tides and rain flooded the car-park beside the aquarium.

Several motorists who heeded the flood warnings and moved their cars out of the car park were subsequently ticketed for illegal parking.

The Labour Party councillor, who has had representations from residents, said he has requested a meeting for residents at City Hall several times in the past six months, but has yet to get one.

Cllr McNelis claims he has dealt with three different engineers for his request, and has been sent from ‘Billy to Jack’ and got nowhere.

“I was dealing with the Transport Department and now they are telling me that this isn’t a Transport Department issue and that it is a Parks Department. I really think the Council is not taking residents’ concerns seriously. It is very frustrating,” he said.

He said the meeting between officials and residents would cover three items.

“Firstly, I would be looking for the Council to liaise with the management companies in those apartments when they issue flood warnings, to alert residents not to park in the car park. It is a very simple thing that could prevent damage to cars in future,” he said.

Cllr McNelis said he would be seeking assurances that residents were not ticketed for parking illegally on the road having moved their vehicles out of the car park due to flooding. “There has to be some element of fairness and compassion,” he said.

The meeting would also discuss how the Council could improve its communication with residents, as well as use their local knowledge when implementing flood prevention measures.