Councillor Paddy Bracken brought a video taken during the last flooding event in Mountmellick to a Council meeting

Open grids which overflow with water during floods are causing fear in Mountmellick but are legally required as fish passages, a meeting was told.

Councillor Paddy Bracken tabled a motion asking “that this Council close the open grids over the stream at Manor Road, Mountmellick to prevent flooding.”

“The residents are living in fear of flooding and that is the big danger,” Cllr Bracken told a meeting of Borris-in-Ossory Mountmellick Municipal District.

In a written response to the motion, the Council said “these open grids (light-ports) are environmental structures provided to satisfy statutory requirements for fish passage and ecological light penetration along covered watercourse. The Council is legally prohibited from permanently closing or sealing these units without explicit statutory approval from Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI). The MD Office will contact the IFI to assess if alternative structural modifications can be accommodated. This process will also involve Environmental and Habitat screening reports to be carried out.”

Cllr Bracken said he couldn’t understand how closing the five grids would negatively impact on the lives of fish when it was only forty or fifty metres. He had a video of the last flooding on his phone.

“We are governed by regulations but people are under threat of flooding. That reply is not very helpful,” he said.

“I am asking you again to do what you can in terms of alleviating that problem. You are not closing in miles of river,” he said.

Senior Executive Engineer Rory O’Callaghan said the work that had been carried out on the bridge in the area had increased its capacity. He said he was aware that local people want the grids closed. He said he would have to get Inland Fisheries Ireland(IFI) approval and reports have to be carried out.

The motion was seconded by Cllr Seamus McDonald. Cllr Ollie Clooney said that it would not be easy to get IFI approval.