Residents of Thomastown and Inistioge have been left “anxious and concerned” by recent downpours, according to a local councillor.
It’s after a meeting of Callan Thomastown District last evening heard an update on the area’s flood relief scheme, which was first announced in 2018.
Several representatives expressed frustration that three years on, many pockets of the county still have no timeframe for the project.
Cllr Deirdre Cullen says it’s causing severe concern for two particular spots, telling KCLR News “They’re anxious, they’re concerned, they’re living on their wit’s end, and they really need a start date and we all need a start date for Thomastown and for Inistioge, these communities have suffered extensively, you have businesses that are constantly hit, residents whose homes are destroyed every time there is severe flooding”.
She adds “There is a huge amount of planning involved in these flood relief schemes let alone the actual works to be carried out so what I proposed was that we write to Minister O’Donovan and we ask him to set forth a beginning in terms of the works and the whole process to start for Thomastown and for Inistioge”.
And Cllr Cullen says the situation is very worrying, noting “As of yet the Office of Public Works have yet to schedule a start date for the consultation process to begin, let alone the works to start for the Thomastown Flood Relief Scheme and Inistioge as well and I am getting slightly anxious”.