Anger, frustration and a lot of questions about Westport CFRAM report

Neill O’Neill

“It is unbelievable, I am baffled, in the name of God we’ve a river running through the centre of Westport town and we don’t know who is responsible for it. I’ve heard it all,” sighed an exasperated Cllr Christy Hyland yesterday (Monday), after a debate on the CFRAM report which was delivered to councillors at their monthly meeting in Westport.
The contents of the report from the OPW and JBA Consulting did not make for easy listening for the elected members, after they were told that no flood prevention works would be forthcoming in the town centre.
Cathaoirleach Brendan Mulroy was first to express dismay, saying he ‘expected a lot more’. Recalling the events of December 2015 when the Carrowbeg River burst its banks at various locations in Westport, but not on the North and South Malls [there was localised flooding on the Malls], he said Westport has experienced flooding and will  again.
“We are not exactly Crossmolina [which received the worst of the flooding in 2015] but we will be saying we told you so when the town floods, and it will flood, but that will be no good to the people who are not being protected now. Your remit is to come up with a solution that costs less than €620,000, but that is crazy stuff. People may not be able to get insurance and now they are being told we cannot help as it is not cost beneficial,” he said with dismay.
With unanimous agreement around the table, Cllr Tereasa McGuire added: “We waited a long time for answers and CFRAM was a carrot dangled in front of us in that regard. How do we value what’s ‘cost beneficial’? If I’m struggling to pay rates and now I’m told nothing will be done when the river comes in my door. Do we have to wait for a rainbow or send out some doves,” she said, in reference to the biblical flood story of Noah’s Ark.
Querying who is actually responsible and who will pay for works, she said the rate payers could not be asked to do so, as it would be like ‘the mafia, asking ratepayers to pay for their own protection’.

Common sense
Stating that environmental concerns were being given more consideration than people, Cllr Michael Holmes called for common sense.
“Forget about bloody reports and reports, common sense needs to come into this. There is a lot of people making money out of reports,” he said, citing an example of community work and ‘common sense’ solving a flooding problem in Newport  town.
Cllr Paul McNamara demanded answers about the costs of these reports.
“I wonder about the man writing the cheques for these reports. I’d love to know how much has been spent on consultancy in Mayo since January 2014 [when the county was hit by two coastal storms]. I’d safely say that report could have cost up to a quarter of a million euros, and now we are being told that we can only spend €620,000 on Westport.”
Councillor Christy Hyland asked to where the affected people turn now?
“If you are in blue zone [marked on the report] is it a flood risk and will you be able to get insurance?” he asked, wondering who had responsibility over the Carrowbeg River. A subsequent debate rumbled on as all present pitched in on who was actually responsible for the river, with the OPW representative stating that her agency are not, but while the local authority and landowners are entitled to clean the river, it is not their actual responsibility to do so.
“In all my years elected, a talking shop is not the word,” Cllr Mulroy concluded, “we don’t even know who is responsible for the river.”
“Stop, we don’t want that getting out,” responded Cllr Hyland, to which Cllr Mulroy wrapped up the debate: “Sure it’s the situation, what have we been doing here for the last 20 minutes.”