*Photograph: John Mangan
FLOODING in Ballycar “has been the bane of our life”, the top official in Iarnród Éireann has remarked.
This March was the first time in four years that the Limerick to Ennis rail line was forced to close due to flooding in Ballycar, Newmarket-on-Fergus but the problem winds all the way back to 1826.
A report compiled by RPS Consulting estimated that the flooding problems in Ballycar would cost €16m to solve. This was undertaken for Iarnród Éireann and stakeholder representatives from Clare County Council, the Office of Public Works (OPW), the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) and the National Parks & Wildlife Services (NPWS). This study recommends a new preferred option of a technically viable drainage scheme that would (prevent flooding of the railway occurring whilst also including any flood mitigation measures downstream that would be necessary either directly or indirectly with this option.
Addressing an Ennis Chamber breakfast briefing, CEO of Iarnród Éireann Jim Meade stated, “Ballycar flooding is one of the issues that has been the bane in our life, whoever decided to build a rail link through a lake in the 1800s needs to be questioned. We have the project done and we know what the solution was, we are recosting it and updating the numbers, we need to get the funding signed off, it is a two or three year project to deliver, we can’t close it for eight or nine weeks a year, we need to solve the funding”.
Clare TD, Violet Anne Wynne (IND) questioned if up to date costings had been produced. “A number of years ago it was €16m so we’re into the mid-twenties now. The plan is still the plan,” Meade replied.
During his time as a Clare TD, Michael Harty in December 2019 at a community forum event in Newmarket-on-Fergus commented, “Ballycar flooding is a huge issue. There is a turf war between the OPW and Iarnród Éireann, there is an active process in place because it is part of the Western Railway Corridor”.
When questioned by The Clare Echo if there was a turf war ongoing, Meade stated, “It’s not necessarily a turf war, we have worked a project over a number of years which had the local authority involved and ourselves, Parks and Wildlife, the IAA in Shannon to understand the implications of how we would do it, we have a plan that will work, the only issue for us all now is who funds it, that is a Government decision and which Department, to my view it doesn’t matter whether local authority, the OPW or Transport funds it, it is about the delivery of it and the agencies, we have no powers outside of the boundary line of the railway so it will be either Clare County Council or the OPW will have to do the project, we’re updating the costings to today’s numbers, we’ll be back into the Government to say we need to fund it and whatever agencies or Department funds it”.
He believed there was a willingness from all parties to tackle the issue. “There was round-table meetings facilitated by the Council in Ennis, everybody around the table understood what needs to be done and it is about getting the final solution”.
