Ms Catherine Kirwan:

To add to that, we were told when we attended a meeting with the steering committee in the OPW a number of months ago that the walls were being built to be added to, but what would probably happen is that it is unlikely that the people of Cork would put up with a 2 m high wall and that there would be a wall breach in the future which would have catastrophic consequences and then a tidal barrier would be built. What we are saying is that the tidal barrier should be built now. In the words of Roy Keane, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. We are saying why wait until after the catastrophic flood to build the tidal barrier that we were told by the OPW would be cost-neutral in the future? It would be a complete no-brainer to build a tidal barrier in the future in an unspecified number of years. We are saying, build it now, lads. What is the point in wasting public money on building walls that will not be needed in future because the tidal barrier will be built?