Total investment in flood relief in Ennis will exceed €40 million after Clare County Council signed a €9.7million contract for the River Fergus (Ennis South) Flood Relief Scheme.
The work, which will be undertaken by Galway-based Ward & Burke Construction, is the final phase of flood defence works and includes the townlands of Clonroadmore, Ballybeg and Clareabbey.
Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey, who is a longtime advocate of the flood relief programme, said that the Ennis South Scheme would provide protection to more than 120 homes, five commercial properties and Saint Flannan’s College from what he described as a ‘one in a hundred year flood event’.
“After several delays, I am delighted that the final phase of the Ennis flood relief programme is about to be delivered. It is the culmination of a hugely ambitious project to provide full flood protection for Ennis and follows on from the major works undertaken on the Ennis Upper and Lower Schemes,” he said.
Clare County Council will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the project and Deputy Carey said he was hopeful that work would be under way by the end of next month.
Responding to a question from Deputy Carey in the Dáil in January, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said that with mobilisation time for the contractor taken into account, he expected construction to be under way in April.
The work includes overflow culverts from the streams at St. Flannan’s and Ballybeg to the Clareabbey flood plain, and the upgrade of the existing flood defence embankment between the Quin Road and the Clarecastle tidal barrage, including rehabilitation and construction of sluices.
