Richard O'Donoghue Demands River Dredging After Floods
Richard O'Donoghue criticised river maintenance policy and demanded immediate dredging to protect homes from flooding. He said OPW restrictions on touching river beds and excessive red tape are causing erosion and putting households at risk.
Policy criticism
He blamed government policy and lack of maintenance for recent floods, arguing that rivers must be dredged so water can pass freely and houses can be protected while longer-term flood defences are installed.
Examples cited
He cited local incidents including Abbey Field, Newcastle West, Kilmallock and Drumculloch, describing a house whose back wall was close to collapsing into the river and the two years of negotiations residents faced with the fisheries and the OPW.
OPW rules and red tape
He contrasted the historic Board of Works that cleared waterways with the modern OPW, saying the OPW is now not allowed to touch river beds and that even removing a fallen branch involves significant red tape.
Interim measures demanded
He called for immediate maintenance measures - including dredging and synchronised rotations of work - to protect wildlife and households simultaneously, and urged authorities to begin clearing beds now while permanent flood defences are developed.
Silt, development and maintenance
He warned that silt buildup and new housing increase pressure on waterways and that failure to maintain gullies and channels has contributed to the recent flooding, insisting on practical maintenance to prevent further damage.
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Minister, common sense. Not that common when it comes to government policies. Now, I'm going to take you back on a small history lesson. The Board of Works. Are you old enough to remember the Board of Works? Because I am. What did the Board of Works do? They went around and they cleaned our waterways to allow for clear passage of water. Then the OPW was set up, and no disrespect to the Minister that's there, he's only in his position for the last 12 months, but he would have knowledge of a rural background and would understand from the point of view of keeping rivers clear. We also have to protect the wildlife, but nobody is protecting the people. You have to protect both. The OPW now, when they go to a river, they're not allowed to touch the bed of the river. They can touch the sides of it, but now people are telling me that the sides of the rivers are eroding and they're losing land. I visited a house a number of years ago in Abbey Field, where the woman, the back of her husband has passed since. The back wall of their house was ready to fall in to the river. They had to negotiate with the fisheries, they had to negotiate with the OPW, all they wanted to do was divert the water or small bit so they could actually build up a retaining wall. It took two years to get negotiations so they could protect their own home. You dredge out the ports, because why? Silt builds up. Silt builds up everywhere. On every waterway, you build more houses, which we want. What do you do? You don't allow for any maintenance of the gullies and waterways that have to take away the excess water. You could synchronise it that you do it on different rotations which will protect wildlife, but protect the households. So the people that are flooded at the moment are flooded because of bad policy from government and bad maintenance. Why? Because they won't maintain the rivers. They have to dredge the rivers to allow for the amount of water that's passing at the moment to protect houses. That's a reality. Until you get the flood defences put in place so you can protect the houses. You have to do that in the interim. But if at the moment, if a branch of a tree falls down on the river, oh my god, the amount of red tape you have to go through to get this branch removed from the river. Newcastle West flooded. Abbeyfield. Kilmallock flooded. And Drum Culloch. And that's only to mention a few. All down to lack of maintenance. But the second they flooded, what did they do? In with the machines that started cleaning the beds of the river. Straight away. Do it now. Put in a maintenance in place now to dredge the rivers to make sure water can run freely. Thank you. You
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