DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL plans to build new flood defence measures along the Clontarf coast at a cost of €10 million. 

According to a council report released yesterday, 400 properties along the coast are at “significant risk of flooding”.

New flood defence barriers will reach up to 1.6 metres (5ft 3in) in height, local councillors were told yesterday, and will stretch from Alfie Byrne Road out to the Wooden Bridge. 

The council’s new defence plan comes seven years after the ‘Clontarf Wall’ controversy first kicked off.

Local residents came out in force back in 2011 to oppose the council’s original plans for an eight-foot-high wall along the seafront.

Residents at the time said that they welcomed the need for a flood defence system but rejected the council’s plan.

Local resident, author Roddy Doyle, described the council’s original plan as a “national crisis”. Plans for that wall were shelved in 2012.

As well as plans to build flood defence barriers along the 3.3 kilometre stretch of coast, the council’s current plan includes the redevelopment of Clontarf promenade and the reconstruction of the promenade cycle track. 

The new measures are expected to cost around €10 million.

‘Brand new scheme’

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, local Fine Gael councillor Naoise Ó Muirí says that the plan “is effectively a brand new scheme” for the area. 

This is a work-in-progress by the city council that works in terms of defence while protecting the amenities. It’s quite hard to do.

Clontarf’s current flood defence consists of yellow sandbags lining the promenade, says Ó Muirí, and although there is a sea wall in place “it’s just not sufficient”.

Ó Muirí says that the cost of the new flood measures is twice that of the original plan. 

The council’s plans for flood defence along the Clontarf coast were initiated following serious flooding in 2002 – the highest flooding on record since 1922 – yesterday’s report notes. 

There are three particularly problematic spots along this stretch; at Hollybrook Road, Clontarf Baths and at Vernon Avenue.

Flooding is at its worst at these spots, says local Independent councillor Damian O’Farrell.

Although Clontarf locals are just as determined to maintain their local amenities and sea views, says O’Farrell, “we are on the right track”.

Dublin City Council has accepted now that their last plan was the wrong plan. This is the right plan.

The council plans to lodge a new planning application with An Bord Pleanála next year.