Nine months after flooding prompted an emergency community meeting in Passage East, the flood doors that were promised to the village have not yet materialised.
And with two named storms hitting Ireland in the past week, fears are rising that the village may flood again and nothing significant has changed.
Passage East rose to national prominence on 30 January last, when a brook overflowed and flooded the village, damaging 25 homes.
An Emergency Meeting on Sunday February 8 was attended by senior politicians in government, including Ministers of State, TD Kevin Boxer Moran, TD Mary Butler, and TD John Cummins. Also at the top table were Sean McKeown, Chief Executive of Waterford Council, and Gabriel Hynes, Waterford’s Director of Services for physical infrastructure.
During the meeting it was acknowledged that there were ‘learnings’ for Waterford Council. Senior politicians and local authority figures were genuine in their efforts to meet the residents face-to-face and provide help, but the commitments made at the time have since disappeared into administrative processes.
The general consensus at the Emergency Community meeting was that the flooding could have been prevented if warnings about the brook had been heeded earlier.
Speaking to The Munster Express at the meeting, Chief Executive of Waterford Council, Sean McKeown, acknowledged that there were ‘learnings’ for the Local Authority.
When asked if the commitment to an ‘honest review’ into reports that the alarm had been raised a week before the flood meant the Council had made mistakes, Mr McKeown replied at the time: “Well, I’m not saying that. You’re trying to put words in my mouth now. I think honestly the severe weather assessment team has to look at all the facts, all of the evidence, what calls were made, what did we do and there ultimately will be learnings to be had from that and we are quite willing to take those into account and to address wrongs if that’s what happened”.
The Munster Express also asked Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, if he acknowledged that the flooding was avoidable, given the alarm had been raised a week earlier.
“I can’t make comment on that,” Minister Moran replied at the time. “The first I heard of it was inside in the room, but the local authority did say they have to review and see can they improve on things, and I have no doubt they will do. But that’s little consolation to the people but I will let the local authority deal with that.
“I will never blame anybody. What we have to do is work together. These are people’s lives, people’s homes, the stress, the trauma,” said the Minister. “What we have to do is work together. What we have to do from an engineering point of view, from the local authority, we have to learn but we also have to improve. That’s not just them, that’s us all and I’ll be there to help them along the way. At the same time, you have to be able to help the local community,” Minister Moran added.
ADMINISTRATIVE CONFUSION
Following the meeting there were commitments made to provide homes in Passage East with interim solutions, such as flood doors while the larger works on the brook could progress.
Following an exchange in the Seanad with Waterford Senator Joe Conway on 7 October last, Minister Moran, commented that the Office of Public Works would revert back to Waterford Council ‘shortly’ about the matter.
A comment from the OPW provided to The Munster Express on Friday, 23 October last, said they had requested further information from the Council regarding the specifications of the houses concerned, and would only progress the matter once that information had been received.
Speaking in the Seanad, Senator Joe Conway said: “On 8 February, the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, took time out of his weekend to come down to talk to the community”.
“He listened to their complaints and anger and walked around the town. He talked to people and did a fine job of getting a hands-on appreciation of the situation. He was accompanied by a lot of people who knew a lot about the former flooding in Passage East. If I remember correctly, he made two commitments to us that morning. There would be money from the Department to provide individual property protections, IPPs, for vulnerable properties. These would be given to Waterford City and County Council so the work could go ahead.
“We are now in the flooding and winter season and while lightning may not strike, Passage East will get hit again as sure as eggs are eggs. I would simply like the Minister of State to tell me whether the money has been supplied to Waterford City and County Council to provide IPP protection and if the IPPs are in place,” Senator Conway asked.
In reply Minster Moran pointed out that funds were provided to Waterford Council, but generic ‘off the shelf’ flood doors would not be effective, as they had to fit with the design of the individual houses, and those were details only the Local Authority could provide.
“I understand the concern expressed by the Senator. Let me reassure the people of Passage East and Tallow, and the region that I visited, that I have provided the funding to the local authority,” Minister Moran explained.
“Surveys must be carried out. If we did not carry out surveys and took IPPs off the shelf and gave them to those people, the Senator would be the very man in here in three months saying that they did not work. A survey has to be carried out on every property because every property is different. We have to make sure that, whatever funding we provide, we work with the local authority,” he said.
Minister Moran also highlighted that he had met with Waterford Council the previous week.
“In my reply I have made it clear that we have had a number of meetings with the local authority and the final one took place last week. We will make an announcement very shortly to those people whom the Senator represents and others in Tallow. I have met with them and I know their concerns,” the Minister said.
“I have mentioned the word ‘interim’. Nobody spoke about interim measures six months ago or even 12 months ago. I introduced it as part of the package, through the minor works scheme, which includes an increase from €750,000 to €2 million to not beat up local authorities but help them to make progress while we await the final completion of a scheme.
“In the areas that were mentioned by the Senator, I am quite confident that within the next couple of weeks, or sooner, that we will make an announcement for the people of Waterford.”
Minister Moran concluded the exchange by saying “trust me”.
Last February, the Ministers of State went into the homes of residents damaged by the flooding.
WORDS HAVE COME TO NOTHING
While the administrative back and forth continues, the words will mean nothing to the people living in Passage East, as the winter looks set to be severe and nothing of significance has changed on the ground.
Waterford Council has not replied to a request for comment at the time of publication. Unconfirmed reports suggest that works on the brook in Passage may not begin until summer 2027.
The Council provided additional sandbags to the village and are ready to respond should a situation arise, but time is running out for residents to be provided with the interim protections they were promised.
“My house was flooded out in Post Office Square,” explained a resident after the flooding. “I couldn’t get out of my house with the volume of water that was flowing, I couldn’t even open the door. There are elderly people living in that Square as well.”
Cllr. Declan Barry has criticised what he calls ‘fine big words’ at the emergency meeting which have come to very little for the people of the village as they face another winter season.
“There were all fine big words in the community centre in Passage East on the Sunday morning, the week after the flooding,” Cllr. Barry told The Munster Express last Friday. “And those words have come to nothing.”
“That’s all we’ve got, we haven’t seen a door, an engineer, a nail, nothing has moved on since,” he said.
“We are a week now away from the month of November, the rainy season is upon us, as we know, and the residents are left at the mercy of the elements. They have been let down by our Council. The Council are blaming the OPW, the OPW are blaming the Council. I want to see action.”
Cllr. Barry had attended the brook in the weeks preceding the last flood. Having checked the water level he wanted to reassure Passage East residents that it had not yet rose to a concerning height.
“I was up at the brook last Thursday, 22 October,” he explained. “The volume of water currently is nowhere near what it was that time last January. The two most dangerous months are the months with the most rainfall, and that’s January and February. We are only two months away from that.
“I am extremely worried that we are going to have a repeat of the disaster that we had earlier in this year.”
Cllr. Barry acknowledged that there have been additional sandbags provided to the village by the Council.
“They said yes, there’s two pallets at the brook and there’s one down at the community centre. That’s the only thing: sandbags. There’s no sight nor sound of a flood door,” Cllr. Barry added.
OPW SEEKS ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In reply to The Munster Express, the Office of Public Works outlined the situation from their perspective, commenting that they have sought further information from Waterford Council.
“Mr. Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran TD, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), announced the approval of €6.6m to eight local authorities, to introduce interim flood protection measures, in response to flooding from Storm Chandra, earlier this year,” a Department spokesperson said.
“Under the scheme, €141,525 was approved for Waterford City and County Council to introduce interim flood protection measures, which included funding to cover the costs of surveying some 100 properties located in Tallow and Passage East for the most appropriate Individual Property Protection (IPP) measures to be deployed. In making this allocation, the OPW provided principles that must be adhered to when local authorities intend on deploying IPP, including introducing a community-based approach and that weather advisories are accessible to those property owners with IPP.
“The Council has advised that they have completed the IPP surveys and have applied to the OPW for funding for the provision and installation of IPP to properties in Passage East and Tallow. To complete its assessment of these applications, the OPW has sought additional information from the Council. The OPW will continue with its assessment upon receipt of the requested information,” the Department spokesperson added.
AARON KENT Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
