Cork County Council facing €55m Storm Babet damage repair bill

REPAIRING the damage caused by Storm Babet flooding to local and regional roads and bridges in Cork will take up to two years and cost Cork County Council up to €55m over and above its annual roads budget.

The council already faces a €13m shortfall to carry out the programme of work it had scheduled to implement over the next 12 months.

The disclosure of the €55m repair bill comes as a delegation of Midleton and East Cork residents travels to Leinster House today, to present a petition of 14,722 signatures calling for urgent interim flood prevention measures to be implemented in the town and surrounding villages.

Last week, the council was allocated an extra €13m in the annual announcement of funds by the Department of Transport for regional and local roads. The council has estimated a bill of €26m for the works it is to implement during 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

Two years

In a statement in response to a query from The Echo, it has been estimated it will take two years to complete the full list of repairs and that these will cost between €50m-55m.

“Cork County Council intend to complete €26m of works in 2024 and Q1 2025. At present, only €13m of funding has been secured under the Regional and Local Roads Grant Allocations 2024,” the statement read.

“Cork County Council has engaged with the Department of Transport on this matter, in an effort to secure the further necessary funding.”

While the cost of repairing regional and local roads and bridges is a matter for the council, repairing damage to national roads is the responsibility of the National Roads Authority. When those costs — estimated at €16m — are factored in, as well as the initial clean-up costs of €4.42m, the overall total for damage to roads and clean-up costs in Co Cork as a result of Storm Babet is put at between €70.42m and €75.42m.

Damage

During a recent council meeting, Fine Gael councillor in East Cork Municipal District Michael Hegarty said that more than half of the damage done was to roads and bridges in his district.

“You can all see from those figures that we’re not even half way there in the damage that was done,” he said, warning that further heavy falls of rain could lead to even more damage.

“What annoys me is that various political parties — and none came to town and saw for themselves the damage — and said money would not be an issue.

“All we’re doing at the moment is temporary works, it’s a Sellotape job. It’s not good enough,” said Mr Hegarty.

In a statement from the Department of Transport following the announcement of an allocation of €83m for regional and local roads in Cork during 2024, a spokesperson said this money included €13m for repairing roads impacted by severe weather and nearly €2m for bridge rehabilitation. “The improvement and maintenance of regional and local roads is the statutory responsibility of each local authority, in accordance with the provisions of Section 13 of the Roads Act 1993.

“Works on those roads are funded from the councils’ own resources and supplemented by State road grants. The department will work closely with the affected local authorities as required to facilitate the progression and management of repair works.”

Shortfall

The shortfall came to light as a delegation of 15 representatives of the Midleton and East Cork Flood Protection Group set off to Dublin with a petition containing 14,722 signatures calling for the urgent implementation of interim flood protection measures for Midleton and surrounding communities. The delegation has invited local TDs to meet with it as well as the Minister for the Office of Public Works, the Social Protection Minister, the Education Minister, and the Health Minister.

“There have been plans in progress for flood defences for Midleton since 2010 and they still have not materialised,” said group secretary Caroline Leahy in advance of their journey to the capital.

“We are calling for urgent interim measures to protect lives and properties after the devastating floods caused by Storm Babet.

“We are also raising our concerns about the issues around getting insurance, the difficulties encountered by people trying to access the humanitarian fund via the Department of Social Protection, and the mental health impact on our communities.”