This article is from page 4 of the 2014-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
COMMUNITIES along the west coast of Clare are coming together to hire their own engineer and access the damage to land and property as a result of two months of storms and high tides.
Led by the Clare Irish Farmers Associations, community groups have decided to take action where responsibility is being denied by government and state bodies.
Of particular concerns are sluices, which were in many cases initially built by the former Board of Works to drain sea water from farm land.
This infrastructure is not the responsibility of Clare County Council according to the local authority, with the Office of Public Works also denying accountability.
Embankment work and coastal erosion along farms and private property is also adding to the confusion, with property owners in many cases prepared to undertake the work but fearful of the bureaucratic consequences if they do so.
Clare IFA county chairman Andrew Dundass said the Minister for State with responsibility for the OPW Brian Hayes gave a commit- ment that he would consider some financial support if the farmers came together to undertake the work.
This would have to be inspected by the council, said the minister, as the OPW did not have the resources.
“These are all jobs that need to be done, even though they may be farm land at the moment, if these jobs aren’t done they will affect people further a field,” said Mr Dundass.
The plan is that farmers will come together to finance the work with some grant aid from the Government, similar to the community road projects a number of years ago.
“We will have to put all the reports together for the areas the council are not responsible for and what can be done for these people.”
Mr Dundass said farmers along the Shannon estuary are frustrated that no commitment has come from the OPW as yet as to what repair work will be carried out there. The OPW is responsible for parts of the estuary, especially areas of conservation.
“A lot of farmers are in a position to build up those embankments but are afraid of the consequences of doing so due to the restrictions on these lands,” explained Mr Dundass.