10th February, 2014

Connaught/Ulster vice president of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association is calling for new thinking on the management of flood basins, particularly in relation to the Shannon and its tributaries.

John Flynn said, “The flooding of large tracts of land in the West and in Limerick city in recent days and weeks has underlined the need to completely reassess river and flood management with a view to alleviating water shortage concerns in Dublin and the wider east coast area. There are various techniques and technologies that could be examined. For example, the Environment Agency in the UK is actively looking at dredging as a key tool in alleviating flooding problems in a number of badly-affected areas.”

“Flooding costs landowners, homeowners, businesses and the Government huge amounts of money, as we have seen this year already. We must examine the possibilities in terms of reducing the damage and cost of flooding and revise the management of our flood-prone rivers.”