October 29, 2003
Landslide Pt 2
RTE News this evening showed dramatic footage of the peat landslide in Derrybrien. The flow was shown streaming across the road and down the valley on the other side. There is a good chance that it will spoil the water supply for Gort and surrounding areas. Given that 40mm of rain is predicted by the weekend, this is not good news at all.
Landslides..floods...lightning..lights in the sky... what can it all mean? It must be a portent of something, but what...oh, I see.
Posted by Monasette at October 29, 2003 11:09 PMI’m from Boyle in Co. Roscommon. I am doing a M. Sc. in Environmental and Health & Safety Management in Sligo IT. As part of the course I have to complete a research Thesis on something relevant to the course. I was hoping to base my work on Natural Disasters in Ireland.
I’m only in the initial stages of picking a topic so I have to make sure that I don’t replicate other work and that I come up with new recommendations etc.
I found your articles very interesting and was just wondering is there any framework in place for to help forsee areas that may be susceptible to natural disasters and therefore planning permission for such works and dwellings would not be granted
I know you are probably up to your eyeballs at the moment but if you get a chance could you drop me a quick line or put me in the right direction.
Thanks very much and a brilliant report!
That sounds like a very interesting thesis (and timely too). I'm no expert on either planing or disasters, but the relevant authorities for examining the likelihood of a disaster are the Dept. of the Environment (remember the iodine tablet fiasco a couple of years ago?), the local county council and An Bord Planeala. I'm not sure who else would be involved (perhaps the Environmental Protection Agency also).
for example, the gas terminal near Belmullet was granetd planning permission by Mayo county council but subsequently denied it by an Bord Pleanala (ironically due to the danger of a peat landslide).
In Derrybrien, an Environmental Impact study was done as part of the planning permission. not sure how much it's worth, given the recent events.
A phone call to either the local county council or the EPA might help.
Hope this is of some help,
John