This article is from page 13 of the 2011-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
JUST under € 300,000 has been allocated by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to Clare County Council for the construction of a pipe connecting a turlough in Ballyvaughan to the Atlantic Ocean.
The funding has been made available under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme which was set up in August of 2009, just before the unprecedented flooding which took place in October and November of that year.
This latest allocation brings the total amount of Clare funding received under the scheme since 2009 to € 1 million.
Clare still lags behind other flood hit counties in allocations received from this scheme with both Galway and Cork County Councils receiving in excess of € 2 million each from the Minor Flood Mitigation Works Scheme.
This is the second allocation of funding to be made to a Clare flooding scheme this year following a grant of € 99,000 for flood relief works to be carried out at Roughan in Kilnaboy in April of this year.
The Ballyvaughan flood works follow extensive flooding of the area during November of 2009. The main road between Ballyvaughan and Kin- vara was impassable for a number of days during the flood, while a large number of smaller local roads were also submerged.
The € 270,000 allocated by the Office of Public Works represents 90 per cent of the total costs of the work with Clare County Council required to invest the remaining 10 per cent, or € 30,000.
“This is welcome news for the people of Ballyvaughan. Severe flooding was experienced on the outskirts of Ballyvaughan during the winter of 2009 and the works proposed will help to alleviate flooding on affected roads,” said Clare TD Pat Breen (FG).
“This funding is allocated to Clare County Council under the Minor Flood Works Scheme and represents 90% of the monies sought by the Council so it is a sizable investment in reducing future flood risks in Ballyvaughan.
“This funding allocation confirms this Government’s support for the implementation of flood prevention measures even in these tightening budgetary times.”
The scheme is still open for local authorities to put forward local projects for funding and Clare County Council is understood to have a number of projects currently working their way towards securing funding.