'All of Newbridge will be flooded' if Kildare housing plans get the green light

Water levels in River Liffey should be permanently monitored to minimise flooding in Kildare towns.

Special stations should be opened along the waterway to gather information about water volumes that might prevent flooding.

Six local councillors - Pádraig McEvoy, Angela Feeney, Rob Power, Peggy O'Dwyer, Chris Pender and Carmel Kelly - want Kildare County Council to link up with other organisations and groups to do this.

At a Kildare County Council meeting they want electronic water level monitoring stations to be installed “at key locations including Clane and Newbridge.” 

Another councillor, Tom McDonnell, referenced plans for additional housing in Newbridge and said these ought not to proceed.

He said: “All of Newbridge will be flooded,“ adding “if we acknowledge there is a climate crisis, we have to stop building.”

He added: “We have a massive climate crisis and we’re putting in massive housing developments - we’re contradicting ourselves.”

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The six councillors say the stations are required because of the “increased complexity of managing flood risk linked to climate change in the ESB-controlled (waterway)."

They argue this would improve "understanding of hydrological response and support climate adaptation and flood preparedness.”

The councillors also want the information from the stations to be publicly available online through the Office of Public Works.

Cllr McEvoy noted at the meeting, that the month of January was one of the wettest ever, with double the normal amount of rainfall.

He said water levels on the Liffey at Poulaphouca rose by two metres recently and he said while Kildare County Council worked to monitor the situation when the risk of flooding became apparent “this will not stop the storms.”

Cllr McEvoy said monitoring stations will mean earlier warnings.

He said politicians of all persuasions need to pull together to deal with the issue while Cllr Chris Pender said the existing information about flooding is fragmented.

He said the stations are basic public safety infrastructure.

Clr Rob Power said the information provided by the stations will provide “an apparatus to take action” and “it’s high time we acted.”

Cllr Peggy O’Dwer said other agencies like Bord na Móna and the National Parks and Wildlife Service need to involved and she predicted that flooding in Newbridge will have an impact on house sales while Cllr Angela Feeney acknowledged that work done by KCC in areas close to the river to alleviate  flooding was effective.

Other areas were affected including a pedestrian walkway in Celbridge which, Cllr David Trost said, had to be closed.

KCC official Marian Higgins said the scale of rainfall recently “has been unprecedented”  with rain falling on top of saturated soil.

Ms Higgins said the KCC flood risk management team is in consultation with the Office of Public Works  to install gauges on the River Liffey in Newbridge and Clane. “These gauges will provide long-term data which will inform proposed flood risk management measures in both towns as well as providing real time levels of the River Liffey.”

Ms Higgins said gauge levels are publicly available on the OPW’s website and KCC will continue to work closely with ESB to manage discharges in the area  as appropriate.