Posted on January 9, 2018
By Hubert Murphy, Drogheda
Up to €80m is to be spent in the Louth and East Meath region on flood defences – but not a penny in the area most affected by recent damage – Dunleer.
The lower part of the town was under water in 2014 but the recent allocation of funding has ignored the problem in Dunleer, locals feel. The millions allocated by the minister will be spent on protecting hundreds of homes with hard defences in places like Ardee and Baltray.
Writing to Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran TD this week, local man and former councillor Hugh D Conlon – who was one of those badly impacted when the White River burst its banks – says he was ‘very surprised not to see mention of Dunleer and The White River in the various headings’.
He explained that Dunleer suffered serious flooding in November 2014 when the river rushed onto roads at the Barn Road and lower main street.
‘Many residential and commercial properties including my own were badly hit and were put out of commission for many months. Flood Maps were drawn up and included as part of the new Dunleer LAP recently published. With such a large allocation for the county, we fail to understand why Dunleer seems to have received none of this funding,’ he stated.
He is now ‘imploring’ the minister to review the situation with a view to commencing flood defences for the town and dredging works on the river in 2018.
Source: Drogheda
