Mr. John Hegarty:

We would welcome sitting down with the OPW because we have a lot in common. When we heard about the OPW working on the river in Cork and proposing flood-relief solutions, we were delighted because we thought at last the OPW was coming and would do a really good job. We thought there would be a big heritage involvement from the OPW on the other side, but that was not the case. We have a lot of common ground. Our schemes have a lot of common ground. We are both saying that some kind of barrier has to be built to protect the citizens of Cork. We are just proposing a far more sensible one that is manageable and costs less to manage. Our estimates and HR Wallingford's estimates are that it would cost €1 million a year to manage a tidal barrier. If these people say it is that way, it is that way. We wonder what the wall scheme would cost to manage every year with all those demountables and everything like that.

A tidal barrier works very simply. It rarely closes. This year it might have only closed on one day or not at all. It is not really a barrier. It allows free-flowing movement for traffic. The proposed width is wider than any of the bridges proposed for the city. The tidal barrier is a very simple object that allows fluvial flooding and tidal flooding to be separated in times of need. It is a very simple thing. It is how the Thames barrier works. It protects cities all over the world with this kind of simple technology. That is what I have to say about a tidal barrier. It works and these people say it works. That was the first thing they said in their report before they said they would even bother costing it.