ESB chief says attempts to blame it for flooding in Cork are 'sad'

ATTEMPTS BY Cork city manager Joe Gavin to blame the ESB for the floods which devastated the city last November were “sad”, ESB chief executive Pádraig McManus has told an Oireachtas environment committee.

The ESB was before the committee to explain why it released huge volumes of water from the Inniscarra Dam which flooded the city on November 19th and 20th last after unprecedented rain.

Mr McManus and several other ESB representatives told the committee the company’s principal responsibility was to protect the dam. It had no choice but to release the water, and would do so again if circumstances arose.

The ESB said it had given timely and appropriate warnings to Cork City Council and all other relevant authorities, as well as residents and businesses.

Water could not be allowed to flow over the top of the dam under any circumstances, said Pat O’Doherty, executive director, ESB Power Generation.

“If dam safety wasn’t managed it would have put Cork city at greater risk. Water must never come over the top of the dam.”

Mr O’Doherty said the safety of Inniscarra Dam was never put at risk during the floods because regulations were followed by the ESB. The ESB was not, however, the lead agency for flood-risk assessment and management; those responsibilities lay primarily with the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the city council.

The ESB said warnings were given before 11am on November 19th to the council, the fire brigade, UCC and local residents. At noon, warnings were issued to radio stations and a short time later to AA Roadwatch.

A further round of warnings were made at about 5pm when it became clear the situation was escalating due to “unprecedented volumes of water” entering the reservoirs.

“We made the warnings. What we want to know is what consideration was given to those warnings,” Mr O’Doherty said.

Mr McManus said a report on the flooding given by city manager Joe Gavin to city councillors last December, which criticised the ESB, contained inaccuracies.

“The most unfortunate point about the report was the efforts to try to throw the whole issue on to the ESB . . . I think that’s very sad.”