Sent: 19 March 2021 11:59
To:patrick.odonovan@oireachtas.ie <patrick.odonovan@oireachtas.ie>; Derek Devaney <derek.devaney@opw.ie>
Subject: Save our Shannon Organisation Hello,
Please see attached email on behalf of the Save Our Shannon Organisation. We look forward to a positive reply.
All the best.
(Hon Sec)
____________________________________________________________________________
Dear Minister O’Donovan,
Once again the residents of the Shannon Callows face another year with anxiety and worry.
The Summer flooding of 2019 and 2020 left farmers without the use of their land for 19 out
of 24 months.
This has occurred at a time when €7 million has been allocated since December 2019 to
“alleviate constrictions to the flow of water in the Shannon Callows between Athlone and
Meelick”. So far not one cent of this money has been spent in making this happen. Not
alone has no money been spent but we have seen no plan, no planning permissions sought
and no applications for “consents and planning permissions”.
Yet, your email of 5 February 2021 is telling us of plans by Waterways Ireland to “advance a
range of measures commencing in 2021”. Neither does it inform us what these plans are.
We asked you specifically for this information in our last email. Are Waterways Ireland
advancing plans to remove pinch points to aid navigation or to remove pinch points to aid
the flow of water from the Shannon Callows?
Your government has a major stake in such agencies as: ESB, Bord Na Mona and Waterways
Ireland. However, the OPW, the agency in charge of flooding relief, does not seem to have
any control whatsoever over these agencies in relation to flood relief measures.
In your e-mail dated 5 Feb 2021 you state:”
“as such the levels in the lakes at the start of a large flood have little influence on the final
lake levels reached at the height of the flood”.
Such a statement tells us that you are failing miserably to understand the issue of “Summer
flooding”. The water levels in our lakes were raised in the 1970s without any consultation
with local people and this has contributed massively to the major summer flooding events
now occurring repeatedly causing total loss of farmland, the destruction of the Corncrake and
its habitats and the endangerment of other bird species including the Curlew. This is because
all storage capacity has been taken out of our lakes in Summertime and the resulting flood
water has nowhere to go only out on people’s property.
The level of the lakes at the start of a flood has a great influence on the amount of water
spreading over fields in Summer time. We say to you Minister, that you have failed to
address the issue of Summer flooding as we have been consistently asking you to lower these
lake levels.
Minister, you sent us a response from the ESB in relation to flooding. It states
“The ESB discharges its duties as defined in ESB regulations and guidelines for the control
of the River Shannon”.
HEREIN LIES THE CRUX OF THE MATTER.
We want to draw your attention to the following points:
Firstly, these regulations and guide lines were drawn up in the 1930s for a river that bears no
semblance whatsoever to the river that flows southwards today. This river is choked with
silt, silt islands, vegetation, bushes and trees. No proper planned maintenance programme
has ever been put in place by any Government, including yours, since the foundation of
the state.
Secondly, this statement tells us who is in control of the River Shannon – the ESB.
Thirdly, the ESB in their statement affirm that they can only manage the flow of water as it
arrives at Parteen Weir from Lough Derg. Could we not implement a plan to get the water
into Lough Derg quicker by removing some pinch points up river between Athlone and
Meelick?
Fourthly, the ESB in their statement assert that discharging more water than (210 m 3/s at
Parteen Weir +385 m 3/s at Ardnacrusha) would result “in lowering water levels in Parteen
Basin below safe operating limits and risk causing stability issues to Cat A earthen
embankment dams that form Parteen Basin and the Headrace Canal”.
Minister, our question to this statement is:
In this day of engineering expertise, is there any way of further protecting these dams and
preventing instability issues so that the maximum level of (595 m 3/s ) can be released before
the flood begins to rise? It seems to us that it is quite acceptable for the residents, farmers,
wildlife and all the man-made structures in the Shannon Callows to be put in continuous
danger in order to protect these embankments.
Minister, you and your Government must accept full responsibility for consistently putting
lives, properties and livelihoods at risk by your continuous failure to carry out remedial
maintenance works in the Shannon Callows between Athlone and Meelick.
The Save our Shannon Organisation express our gravest disappointment at your
Government’s total disregard for our welfare, not alone by your failure to remove pinch
points but also by allowing Waterways Ireland, Bord Na Mona and the ESB to raise water
levels in the 1970s – levels that have had a devastating effect on our lives and on our
livelihoods up to the current time.
We look forward to your response.
All the best.
Emily Young
(Hon Sec)