New flood zone planning rules hit Limerick homeowners in their pockets

A LIMERICK councillor has expressed his concern at “soaring insurance costs” being incurred by individual homeowners who have had their land rezoned as being under risk of flooding.

Cllr John O’Donoghue (Independent) told a meeting of the Adare-Rathkeale Municipal District how one man “spent a fortune” and is suffering “huge implications” relating to his insurance costs.

“To give you a picture of it. A gentleman in Rathkeale was told he was in a flood zone, which will cause him a problem if he wants to apply for planning permission or sell his home in future,” he said.

He explained that the man, who is a private homeowner whose house was not in a flood risk zone before, incurred a huge cost in paying for assessments to find out that part of his property is 50mm over the threshold.

“How many more properties are going to be involved when we move the goalposts and say that we are going to put a place into a flood (zone) that was never in a flood (zone) before?” Cllr O’Donoghue asked.

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Cathaoirleach Cllr Stephen Keary (FG) added to his colleague's point after telling council officials that the local authority must be more sensible when rezoning land in the district as being at risk of flooding.

“I have come across some parts of Kildimo that have been totally destroyed and there will be no more planning there,” he said.

“It’s a major issue, half of Kildimo has no insurance despite the fact that there have been no incidents of flooding there and probably never will be,” Cllr Keary added.

Cllr Kevin Sheahan (FF) pointed the finger at Dublin, saying that despite the hard-fought efforts of local councillors, the government is “legislating against the best interests of its own people.”

A council official responded stating the local authority is not responsible for drawing up flood maps and that the responsibility lies with the Office of Public Works (OPW).

“We can’t just decide that we want to remove somebody’s property from a flood map, but if they have a flood report done, they can make a submission and engage with our flood team,” they said.

Speaking to the Limerick Leader after the meeting, Cllr O’Donoghue said that a "balance must be found" for homeowners who have had their properties drawn into flood (zones) by only a few millimetres.

“Whether you are one millimetre or one metre over the threshold, the implications are the same. This is something that is going to affect so many homeowners, rate payers, farmers and business owners down the line,” he exclaimed.