Mr. John Hegarty:

We are absolutely for flood relief. We have seen at first hand what flooding does to people's lives and the difficulties they go through. We have spoken to people who have had very difficult situations in Cork city centre. We do not believe the proposal is the right one. It may not even work. Flood waters come up through the ground of people's buildings in Cork. It is very difficult to build walls that will prevent that happening in the future. There are issues of subsidence, water tables. The city is built on timber piles, the same as Venice. These kinds of wall solutions have been rejected in Venice and in the Netherlands. We have the support of the senior deputy director of Netherlands Water, who gives out the money for flood relief in the Netherlands, who says this is an antique solution. It means building walls that will very soon fail in some place. If we allow fast flowing water through the city in that case that failure will mean a catastrophic flooding of the city so we will be setting ourselves up for something that is not a good idea fundamentally for the city.

It is not just a question of heritage. I could talk all day about heritage. Cork is an incredible resource in this country that is not recognised or exploited. What is there in terms of heritage is as good as Venice. Our document, which anyone can read online, has illustrations of Cork city that would make one's eyes water at what might be lost in the city centre. Our maritime connection to the world has influenced who and what we are and the physical environment that we live in every day. This solution is not right.

We are for flood relief. We know the burden of proof is much harder for a group like ours so we have put the time and the work in and found a solution that is more economically viable and that protects more people, that keeps transport open, that will allow us to repair, restore and develop our city, that is good for developers, for money and heritage, good for hearts, minds and lives. It will not have demountables for miles running in front of our houses and homes. We do not want that. It is not just me or Ms Kirwan who do not want it. There are thousands of others like us. They are in the business community. They are behind us saying they will support us but they cannot say who they are. There are people in the city centre who are literally crying at the thought that this would happen to their beautiful antique city. This is a city of opera, of navigation, and its development was influenced by northern Europe in such a specific way that we would be mad as a society to get rid of it in this way.