Interesting Panel Discussion held on Tackling Ireland's Flooding Challenge

On April 21st last we held our Spring Panel Discussion 'Tackling Ireland's Flooding Challenge'. We have always endeavoured to be topical with our Spring and Autumn Lectures and Panel Discussions.

Flooding was an enduring public and media event last winter so it was very appropriate that we seek to address it this Spring. Other years we focused on the Banking Bailout, Water (and we could again!), Manufacturing Jobs, Energy, Food, Engineering Education and the Digital Future last year.

 

Dr Jan Verkade, Deltares, Professor Micheal Bruen UCD, Tony Smyth OPW, PJ Rudden, President of EGA,
Dr Amanda Gibney UCD, Evelyn Cusack RTE and Professor David FitzPatrick, Dean of Engineering UCD

We were very pleased to have Dr Amanda Gibney  of UCD School of Engineering to moderate the presentations by 4 eminent national and international speakers together with questions from the audience. A full video of the presentations and Q&A is  provided in the link here.

 

Dr Amanda Gibney UCD opens the Panel Discussion

'The Highs and Lows of Ireland's Weather' are the topic chosen by Evelyn Cusack of Met Éireann and RTE. A consummate presenter on TV, she started with a few questions thrown at the audience - 'What do you call this cloud type? Yes cumulus. If the atmosphere contains 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen what else is present? That's right 1% water vapour and gives us our Weather! It's no wonder that Evelyn is a popular presenter as she instantly engages the audience.

Evelyn Cusack on "The Highs and Lows of Ireland's Weather"

Did you know that the earth is closer to the sun in winter than in summer and that the sun heats the ground not the air above the ground? Did you know that the most powerful greenhouse gas is in fact water vapour? More men are killed on a Sunday afternoon than at any other time of the week ..... Playing golf!

She did confirm that the weather last winter 2015/16 'was the wettest on record'.

Climate change is nothing new! It's been around for the last 4 million years at least and the earth is about 4 billion years old. Evelyn brought us deep into the world of Physics and Mathematics with Boyle's Law, Charles Law and the Navier-Stokes Equations which are used to model the weather in addition to the flow of water in a pipe and air flow around the wing of an aeroplane.

She introduced us to the growing family of Irish and UK storms - some male some female - Storm Frank, Storm Desmond, Storm Eva and Storm Katie and many more!. Evelyn acknowledged that the quality of 'weather forecasting has improved enormously since the 1980s' due mainly to improved satellite models.

Regarding climate change she also stated that 'the temperature rise is unequivocal' and that in climate change terms, the seas are getting higher, we will have wetter winters causing more flooding and more storm damage.

Our second Speaker was Dr Micheal Bruen Professor of Hydrology in the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research. He started by telling us that 'floods are natural events and we should not be surprised that they will happen'! Their impacts can however be mitigated by a combination of 'water storage and conveyance'.  There is however a delicate balancing required as flood storage or relief in one area can impact adversely on another area upstream or downstream.

Professor Micheal Bruen

He instanced the River Shannon and showed the levels along its length during the 2009 flood event. As we know the river experienced even greater and more intense flooding last winter with the worst flooding around Athlone and downstream of Ardnacrusha at Limerick City.  Micheal thought the more likely solutions in a flat river like the Shannon lay in increased storage say at Lough Rea to help protect Athlone and/or increasing the cross sectional area of the river downstream and similarly in Lough Derg to help protect Limerick. There may however be other resulting impacts from improving storage and conveyance in terms of land use and environmental issues to be considered.

'You have to target the priority areas to be protected and you need the legal authority and the hydraulic modelling resources to deal with the situation. There is also a role for advance flood forecasting and warning systems based on the most uptodate weather and river modelling.'

Micheal introduced terms about which we were going to hear more and more as the night went on - 'flood risk' and 'flood risk assessment'. Also he cautioned that the term 'return period' in terms of flooding frequency on rivers is misleading to the public. It needs to be replaced by the 'probability or risk or chance of being flooded in any one year' as a flood can return twice or three times in subsequent years even on a river designed to a cater for '100 year return period'.

Echoing Evelyn's view on the history of Irish weather and resulting flooding, Micheal observed that the  'Annals of the Four Masters record that in 920 AD a Shannon flood reached the Abbey of Clonmacnoise - 'it didn't reach that level last Winter!' He remarked. It is also known he said that the monks abandoned Skellig Michael in the 13th century as 'the weather became colder and more prone to storms.' Also the bed of the River Corrib dried up in 1178!

In conclusion Micheal was of the view that more local intelligence should be used to help inform future flood defences. He agreed that 'climate is changing' and its likely effects need to be included in future urban and rural planning. All in all we heard an interesting take on what is required to  tackle future challenge of flooding in Ireland. In the next two presentations we hear how The Netherlands tackle the very considerable challenge of their very flat country and the ambitious plans of OPW to protect the most vulnerable parts of Ireland.

Dr Jan Verkade of Deltares (the not-for-profit Dutch national R&D institution for water management and geotechnical engineering) and Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands had a fascinating story to tell.

Dr. Jan Verkade

Unknown to many outsiders, there was very severe flooding across The Netherlands in 1953 which after levee barriers failed in the south, some 136,500 hectares were inundated which claimed over 1800 lives and caused some 200,000 people evacuated from their homes and some 750,000 people to be affected! Some 10,000 buildings were lost and another 37,300 buildings were damaged. This happened after a spring tide coincided with a flood surge and there no warning systems in place.

The impact was catastrophic requiring urgent Government action as much of the country is below sea level and even marginal rises impact on additional very large land areas. In addition to make matters worse, most of the high population areas and areas of principal economic activity (like The Hague and other major cities together with the Port of Rotherdam) are sited in the most vulnerable areas to flooding.  In fact even currently, some 30% of the country is below sea level and areas supporting some 60% of GDP are vulnerable without very robust engineering defences. Coastal flooding from the North Sea can be severe but equally problematic is potential fluvial flooding from rivers  Rhine and the Meuse.

So what was the Dutch Government response to these disasters? Economic factors drove a dramatic response to include shortening of the coastline through new barriers closing off gaps in the coastline. In addition a 'risk based approach was adopted to flood protection' in accordance with a new national plan - The Delta Plan and a new company called Delft Hydraulics (since merged into Deltares) was set up to design the flood defences. These barriers were only completed some 50 years later in 2010 and cost tens of billions to construct.

In the 1960s a new national risk based strategy was put in place in The Netherlands where the country was divided into different 'risk zone' categories and new flood defences designed to cater for the designated risk. Areas of high economy activity and areas of high population were prioritised and all dykes and levees raised accordingly.

Since 1960 the population of The Netherlands increased from 10million to 16million greatly increasing the risk in an area the size of Munster in Ireland!

A further development of flood risk management is now in recent years underway to continue risk reduction in terms of any probability of levee failure, a three tiered approach of structural safety/spatial planning/flood emergency management and finally 'adaptive planning'. Adaptive planning creates flexibility based on managing uncertainty including some dyke raising but also 'room for the river' measures to include nature protection if rivers are widened or deepened.

Jan supplemented his talk with some diagrams and photographs the most striking of which are illustrated below.

Tony Smyth is Chief Engineer of the Office of Public Works the statutory body charged with implementation of the EU Floods Directive. They too have adopted a 'risk management approach' following a major National Flood Policy Review in 2004. Thus they have identified some 300 areas which 'are potentially at risk'. These projects now all form part of the  Catchment Flood Risk Assessment & Management (CFRAM) process which will be completed during 2016 and implemented thereafter. Already parts of Dublin City in Drumcondra on the Tolka and Ballsbridge on the Dodder together with Clonmel, Carlow, Fermoy, Ennis and Waterford City have formal flood defences and more now planned.

 

Tony Smyth

The country has been divided into 6 major areas based on the principal river catchments ((Shannon, Eastern, South Eastern, South Western, Western and North Western).  Some 6,500 km of rivers have been surveyed and 40,000 maps produced based on Lidar surveys.

OPW have sought to ensure that all identified flood protection works are technically feasible, environmentally acceptable and cost effective. Neither have they ruled out home relocations or land use recategorization as a future measure where justified.

A major capital programme of €430m has been identified to be implemented from 2016 to 2021 for flood alleviation projects to manage the risk (though not to eliminate it entirely) in a whole-of-government holistic approach to the challenge. This will also be a major challenge to the engineering profession in terms of efficiency and innovation though it was noted that all of the engineered flood barriers and defences recently constructed by OPW held well during the unprecedented floods of last winter.

All of the projects are subject to Cost Benefit Analysis, Strategic Environmental Assessment and Public Consultation. The CFRAM maps are based on a comprehensive analysis and best available information. The maps are 'predictive'  and thus the perception of insurance risk and availability will arise.

The four presentations were followed by a lively Question and Answer session moderated by Amanda.

A geography lecturer from TCD questioned whether engineers were open to looking at records beyond 100 years into histories going into 200 and 500 years? The panel answered that while historical records were interesting they may not be very useful in predictive terms.

There were questions about the OPW authority to produce a new scheme for the Shannon. Tony's response was that there was a much greater interauthority cooperation than realised. There were a lot of competing interests but the major challenge was financial not institutional. The question really was what areas most needed protection and at what cost? Last winter the flood flow in the Shannon exceeded 700 cubic metres per second compared to 130 cubic metres per second to flood the Shannon Callows each winter! Also the future water supply flow proposed for Dublin in comparison would only extract some 4 cubic metres per second from the River Shannon flow.

Jan was asked by John McGowan President Irish Academy of Engineering did the building of the flood defences add to the nation's wealth? Is your country wealthy because you are well protected from floods or are you well protected from floods because your country is wealthy? In response Jan agreed that they were related. They have no choice but to spend the money because of the high risks as in his view if the principal coastal dyke ring fails, then The Netherlands as a country would probably never recover. Micheal added that the flooding caused Deltares to be set up which is now a world leader in hydraulics and flood control.

Evelyn was asked by Kieran Feighan Vice President Engineers Ireland why weather forecasting gas improved so much? Yes the new Harmony model introduced 5 years ago is more accurate in topographical terms to fine tune climate modelling. Compliments to Met Éireann!

Kieran also asked is there public support for the expenditure on flood control? There may not have been initially but now that the public can see the clear effects yes very much so.

What about use of flood plains in urban areas to increase flood relief? Ok but depends on the relative land use and how confined the river sides are. The river banks in Ireland are far less engineered than in Holland.

Tom Browne of ESB questioned if Lough Ree could offer as much storage as assumed as the lake levels there were quite low before the heavy rains of last winter and yet Lough Ree only offered marginal relief to Athlone.

Duncan Stewart, Architect and Environmental Journalist asked about the impacts of climate change where sea levels will rise more than previously expected and parts of our coastline might not be capable of defending? Similarly with inland catchments what can be done on the bigger issues of climate change though he acknowledged the good work of OPW. Tony agreed that all these scenarios need to be taken into account particularly with respect to the cities of Dublin Cork Limerick and Galway. The next phase plan on the EU Floods Directive will have to address. Micheal agreed it was a societal decision and there will be winners and losers. There is more uncertainty about sea levels than about river flooding.

Jim Casey of OPW outlined their methodology to deal with the increasing threat of river flooding.

Dean of Engineering Professor David Fitzpatrick thanked the Speakers, Moderator Attendees and UCD EGA especially Clare Ryan for her organisation of the event.

UCD Dean of Engineering Professor David Fitzpatrick says thanks to all

Duncan Stewart, Martin Hogan, Evelyn Cusack, Dr Amanda Gibney and PJ Rudden

Professor Michael Bruen, Clare Ryan and PJ Rudden

Architect and Television Producer Duncan Stewart and OPW Director of Engineering Tony Smyth

Professor David Timoney UCD and John McGowan current President of the
Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE) and Former President of Engineers Ireland

Round Table Discussion on Gender Balance with Engineers Ireland

Recently we hosted a Round Table Discussion on Gender Balance with Engineers Ireland. We were delighted that Jane Grimson former President of Engineers Ireland and Caroline Spillane Director General Engineers Ireland agreed to attend.

 

Engineers Ireland and UCD EGA Round Table on Gender Balance

Jane in fact chaired the discussion very fittingly as she was the first female President of Engineers Ireland in 2000 - 2001. She chaired a lively discussion with senior representatives of both Engineers Ireland and UCD EGA.

Chair Jane Grimson listens intently

 

Present also was UCD Dean of Engineering Professor David FitzPatrick and Michael Loughnane Immediate Past President EGA who chairs our Subcommittee on Gender Balance and author of our Reports on the subject together with his Subcommittee Members Killian McKenna PhD student in Electronic Engineering and Katie O'Neill Marketing Manager UCD College of Engineering and Architecture.



PJ Rudden, UCD EGA, David Fitzpatrick, UCD EGA, Caroline Spillane, Engineers Ireland,
Jane Grimson, Engineers Ireland and Michael Loughnane, UCD EGA

 

We also had Engineers Ireland Directors of CPD and Membership Dee Keogh and Denis McCarthy respectively and Roseanne O'Leary Acting STEPS Team Manager. STEPS is the division of Engineers Ireland which leads engagement with Primary and Second Schools encouraging careers in Engineering and who organise Engineers Week each February which brings Engineering to life for the Irish public, parents, teachers and schools around the country.

 


Majella Henchion ESB, Denis McCarthy, Dee Keogh and Roseanne O'Leary all Engineers Ireland

For Engineers Ireland DG Caroline Spillane outlined the huge spread of STEPS many events throughout the year - some 1,200 in total and impacting on some 60,000 people. They are planning  Women in Engineering event this coming Autumn. The DG expressed the view strongly that collaboration between the various engineering organisations was essential to allow the considerable challenge to be shared. She sought 'a richer dialogue on the value of engineering in society' - an inspiring thought that would strongly encourage more events such as this.

 

Caroline Spillane and PJ Rudden with Caithlín McDonnell UCD

Chair Jane Grimson fully agreed with this and offered some insights on how the issue was being addressed in Trinity College where she served as Vice Provost for a period. 'The efforts we all make have to be scalable to make a difference' she said 'no one organisation can adequately address this multifaceted challenge'.

We were delighted to again have Catherine Lynch the UCD Gender Project Manager at an EGA Gender Balance event. Catherine spoke passionately about the need for equality in the total student experience regardless of gender, diversity and disability. Thus many students are being challenged in terms of attraction to, retention in and progression in their chosen fields. It was one of the more powerful contributions of the day and that theme was resonated by other speakers specifically about gender balance in engineering that we concentrate more on the need for more engineers but use 50:50 gender balance as part of the overall messaging.  An excellent example of this was the Engineers Ireland TV advert for Chartered Engineer (CEng) a number of years ago (2011-2013) using close to 50:50 gender balance.

 


Roseanne O'Leary, Engineers Ireland, Frances Humphreys, IBM,
Catherine Lynch, UCD and Caitlín McDonnell UCD Engineering Student

Michael Loughnane made reference to the 'leaky pipe' where the approximately half of the female engineering graduates migrate to other professions and career choices after graduation. He called for employers to 'offer more positive and enriching careers to female engineers to stay in the profession'.

 


PJ Rudden with Nadine Grogan, PM Group

Majella Henchion also from ESB who actively support the STEPS team drew attention that while only 9% of graduates made application for employment to ESB in 2016 yet 27% of those eventually appointed were women. That is further confirmation that while girls do better than boys in most state examinations in most subjects, they are also judged to be more employable in many engineering roles.

 

'Less than 40% of girls are in all girls schools but we equally must target the larger mixed schools which teach the greater range of subjects' she stated.

 

Chair Jane Grimson with EGA Gender Balance Subcommittee Members
Michael Loughnane, Killian McKenna and Katie O'Neill

 

Michael referred to Career Guidance Teachers who invariably do not have a STEM teaching background.  Majella noted the high preference for Biology as a subject and Biology Teachers in girls schools with greatly reduced interest in Physics.  Students/parents then dependent on external classes to learn physics and also chemistry suffers in the same way.  This reduces the steer towards engineering.

 

Chair Jane Grimson stated that engineers are at the heart of a thriving economy and it challenges us all to change work environments to suit female engineers .

 

Dee, Laura, Roseanne and Frances also contributed. Killian outlined the EGA efforts on social media.  Killian also chairs the EGA Subcommittee on Social Media. 

 

David outlined the improving situation of 27% females in UCD First Year Engineering in 2015 and the need for more role models. Katie said that UCD had a radical new approach in their Open Day for Engineering sessions geared towards better gender balance and instanced that the winners of Final Year Gold Medals in recent years have disproportionately been awarded to females. She also mentioned the EGA 2015 Autumn Panel Discussion on the Digital Economy where there was 60% females on the speaker panel and 40% at the 2016 Spring Panel Discussion on Flooding.

 

David Fitzpatrick and PJ Rudden listen to Katie O'Neill

 

The youngest member of the Round Table Caitlin McDonnell Final Masters student in Structural Engineering with Architecture described her journey towards engineering from second level to UCD driven by her love of mathematics.

 

The following Six Point Plan contains initiatives that can be pursued either individually or collectively by Engineers Ireland and UCD EGA

 

1. Encourage an increasing number of Engineering graduates into the Irish Economy regardless of gender.

 2. Focus more on the largest mixed second level schools to encourage both STEM subjects and gender balance.

 3. Seek greater collaboration on this issue with all other engineering institutions, third level colleges and employers (especially Corporate Members of UCD EGA and Engineers Ireland).

 4. Strive for as close to 50% gender balance of principal participants at public events, in advertising opportunities and on brochures - as with Engineers Ireland CEng TV adverts and recent UCD EGA events.

 5. Encourage female engineering graduates to visit Second Level Schools through STEPS and third level colleges to describe their interesting everyday work and to speak to Career Guidance Teachers.

 6. Better targeting of influencers like Media, Career Guidance Officers, Teaching Organisations and Parents.

 

L to R: Roseanne O'Leary Engineers Ireland, Frances Humphrey IBM, Caroline Spillane Engineers Ireland,
Nadine Grogan PM, Killian McKenna UCD EGA, Michael Loughnane UCD EGA, Majella Henchion ESB & Engineers Ireland,
Dee Keogh Engineers Ireland, Laura Tobin UCD Student & Denis McCarthy Engineers Ireland

Many thanks to Clare Ryan for her organisation of this event.  Thanks also to Nicola Kavanagh in Engineers Ireland for sending out all of the invitations.

Katie O'Neill, Clare Ryan, Professor David Fitzpatrick & Professor Michael Gilchrist, all UCD

 

 

 

 

UCD EGA hosts Spring Panel Discussion on Flooding

On April 21st next at 6pm in UCD Clinton Auditorium the Engineering Graduates Association (EGA) will host a Spring Panel Discussion on the issue of Flooding in Ireland.

Even today in mid-April there was flooding this weekend in Cork city and the winter flooding that impacted so severely on the River Shannon catchment is only now subsiding.

River Shannon Flooding

On April 21st next at 6pm in Clinton Auditorium Belfield, we will have a Panel Discussion on 'Tackling the Flooding Challenge in Ireland' with a Panel of national and international experts.

Leading the discussion will be the UCD Professor of Environmental Hydrology Micheal Bruen Director of the Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research who will give an overview on the issue and outline the influence of the changing pattern of our climate. His presentation is entitled 'Living with Rivers and Risks - Flooding and a Sustainable Future'.

Prof. Michael Bruen

He will be followed by Dr Jan Verkade of Deltares and Technical University of Delft on 'Flood Management and Real Time Forecasting in the Netherlands'.

Dr. Jan Verkade

Then we will hear the national Government response from Tony Smyth, Director of Engineering Services in the Office of Public Works (OPW) on the National Flood Risk Assessment on vulnerable urban areas in Ireland where Catchment Flood Risk Management Mapping and Plans (CFRAMS) have been drawn up to protect the towns where flood protection had not yet been provided.

Tony Smyth

Finally we will hear from well-known TV weather personality Evelyn Cusack Deputy Head of Forecasting at Met Éireann on the current advanced modelling of forecasting weather events. Her presentation is titled 'The Highs and Lows of Ireland's Weather'.

Evelyn Cusack

These four presentations will be followed by a Question and Answer session moderated by Dr Amanda Gibney UCD College of Engineering Vice Principal for Teaching and Learning. Amanda is a Lecturer in Civil Engineering who has won a UCD College Teaching Award for her significant contribution to curriculum and programme development.

Dr. Amanda Gibney

'So we are all in for a real expose of the complexities of Flooding which can have serious human and commercial impacts on people, properties, farms and businesses' stated UCD EGA President P J Rudden. 'With this line up of expert speakers we will not have solved the flooding challenge, but we will appreciate more fully the national plans to deal with the flooding problem and the experience in The Netherlands which is very flat and much of the country below sea level' he concluded.

All are welcome, admission is free but attendees must register in advance with ega@ucd.ie. A brief Reception will follow the event.

Shell Corrib Project comes on stream.

Late last month I was pleased to join fellow EGA Board Member Brendan Butler at the opening of the Corrib Gas Project in Erris, County Mayo by Partners Shell Statoil and Vermillion. Brendan is the Shell Project Director charged with completion and commissioning of the project.  The official opening was performed by Minister of State for Natural Resources, Mr Joe McHugh TD who described the Erris Gas Project as “an incredible story”.

The control room of Shell's gas terminal at Bellenaboy are control room operator Tom Bond,
Minister of State JoeMcHugh and Shell E&P Ireland Managing Director, Ronan Deasy.



The Shell Corrib project was certainly the largest and most expensive and perhaps the most controversial project in the history of the Irish State. The project was commenced not by Shell but by another company Enterprise Oil back in 1993 when they were awarded an exploration licence off the west Irish Coast. In 1996 Enterprise discovered the Corrib Gas Field some 83km off the Mayo coast approx. 3,000 metres under the seabed and in waters some 350 metres deep.

Enterprise initially sought to develop the field themselves and applied for planning permission which was consented in 2002. Later that year, Shell acquired Enterprise Oil including the Corrib Field. By then significant local objections had been generated which Shell then inherited.  Construction commenced in 2005 but the local objections became more intense culminating in the jailing of local landowners/residents for being in contempt of a court order not to obstruct the project.  Following this impasse and the release of the local people, a mediator Peter Cassells former trade union leader was appointed by the then Minister. The Mediator's Report was published in 2006 recommending 'that Shell modify the route of the pipeline in the vicinity of Rossport to address community concerns regarding proximity to housing'. The Mediator’s Report also supported an independent report on gas pressure safety and urged greater public involvement in pipeline rerouting.

Also in 2006, the Shell management in Ireland changed.  An Irish UCD engineer Terry Nolan working for Shell abroad returned to Ireland as Deputy Managing Director.  Terry went to live in Mayo and from there led a transformation of the project in local perception terms.  He subsequently became Shell MD in Ireland in 2008  until 2011 when he was succeeded by Michael Crothers who built on Terry's previous good work with the Erris community.  Michael was Canadian born of Irish parents - he was Managing Director from 2011 to early 2015 for most of the construction phase which had its own challenges.

Following a new round of public and EU procurement in late 2006, Shell appointed international energy and environment consultants RPS based in Ireland who were new to the Corrib Project to implement the Mediator's  recommendations regarding the 9km Onshore Pipeline. That included re-examining the pipeline routing south of Rossport, to move it further from local housing and reapply  for the planning consents along the new route. Our brief also included reconfiguration of local community engagement.

I led an RPS consultancy team to Mayo in Spring 2007 to take up the challenge given to us by Shell. We found in Erris some of the most beautiful landscapes in Ireland in the vicinity of the disputed project.  Conscious of the degree of local opposition, RPS completely reconfigured the local stakeholder engagement process setting up a local office in Belmullet staffed by community engagement experts supported by experienced gas engineers and scientists familiar with natural gas pipelines in Ireland and previously retained by Bord Gais.

 

Sruwaddacon Bay

RPS' previous track record for Bord Gais was to plan and manage the construction of the 350km Gas Pipeline to the West from Gormanston Co Meath to Goatisland in south Co Limerick via Craughwell Co Galway - the longest gas pipeline in the history of the state delivered on time and within budget in 2002/2003. That project involving 1300 landowners across 8 Irish counties had proceeded smoothly with minimum opposition or delay. It was initially planned in 1999/2000, consented in 2001 and constructed in 2002/2003.

Map of Ireland with Gas Pipeline to the West

RPS set up and managed a fresh community engagement process around the new route selection process involving very extensive local community engagement, even on the criteria to be used to chose the new route before route options were examined.  We held Open Days which were well attended, met with local residents and issued regular update newsletters on the rerouting and consultation process.  Following initial public consultation on a modified pipeline route, eight new corridor options were published in June 2007.   At the same time, Shell set up a local community investment fund to support local voluntary organisations and a Third Level Scholarship Programme.

 Public Consultation Open Day on routing process at Belmullet

A selected route and associated EIS was sent to An Bord Pleanala in February 2009 which doubled the distance to housing and halved the pipeline pressure. The Bord were not however satisfied and requested a route even further from housing up through Sruwaddacon Bay be considered. What became known as the tunnel route was then submitted to An Bord Pleanala in May 2010 and approved in early 2011 following a resumed oral hearing in September 2010.

All of these processes turned the project around and led to successful planning and regulatory approval for a revised optimum route in tunnel.  The tunnel was necessary as the Bay was designated an EU Special Area of Conservation and an EU Special Protected Birds Area.

Map of Onshore Pipeline

The planning permission for the tunnel was given by An Bord Pleanala in early 2011 and construction completed in 2014/15. Up to 1,200 people many of them from Mayo have worked on bringing Corrib to market as it officially opened in January 2016 and the development will sustain 175 jobs over the next 20 years when Corrib will supply up to 60% of our national gas needs.

PJ Rudden, Director RPS Group, Ronan Deasy, Managing Director of Shell Ireland and
Brendan Butler, Project Director Shell E&P Ireland

The technical, environmental and safety standards applied and insisted upon by Shell on this project were second to none in my experience of over 30 years on gas pipelines.  I was very proud to be part of the team effort with Shell to bring indigenous gas ashore from the Corrib Field for Ireland at a time when we previously imported 95% of our needs from the UK through two interconnectors from Scotland.

Also present at the official opening were the Cathaoirleach and Chief Executive of Mayo County Council. the Director of Planning, Economic and Community Development and both the Dutch and Canadian Ambassadors.

Mary Keaveney, Western Development Commission; Joanne Grehan, Director - Planning, Economic & Community Development, Mayo County Council; Kevin Vickers, Canadian Ambassador to Ireland; Michael Holmes, Cathaoirleach, Mayo County Council; PJ Rudden, Director RPS; and Peter Hynes, Chief Executive, Mayo County Council.

Tackling Ireland's Flooding Challenge

December 2015 and January 2016 brought many tragic tales of flooding especially along the River Shannon catchment and in southern towns across Kerry, Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford. In early January there were some 260 homes flooded and as many more homes at risk with flood levels in some rivers at record levels.

 


Flooding in River Shannon, Athlone

 

Apart from the devastation caused to homes there has been major disruption to businesses, farms, getting to work and schools. Flood events bring serious human distress, property and financial costs to towns and rural communities. Flooding seriously disrupts power, water, sewerage and other utility systems causing both outages and pollution.

 

The EGA Spring Lectures and Panel Discussion in April 2016 (final date to be confirmed) will hear from both national and international experts on Tackling Ireland's Flooding Challenge led by Professor Michael Bruen of the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research. Professor Bruen is a leading international researcher in modelling water resources and environmental engineering including the effects of climate change.

 



Flooding in Cork City

  

Civil engineering solutions can provide flood relief in major towns as shown in Dublin, Waterford, Kilkenny, Clonmel and Fermoy but rural areas are very difficult to protect in spatial terms. The problem has been exacerbated by bad planning in building on river basin flood plains. Flood warning systems based on reliable weather and tidal forecasting can also assist. It is significant that all town centres with properly planned engineering defence systems were successful this year in the face of unprecedented flooding.



Flood defence glass wall in Waterford

 

We will plan this event in close cooperation with the UCD School of Civil Structural and Environmental Engineering, the Office of Public Works , Met Éireann and relevant local authorities.

 



UCD Belfield Campus

 

The first EGA Board Meeting of 2016 discussed this issue together with a planned UCD Summer Festival on Campus on June 18th next. This new UCD event will encourage our Alumni to return to college for a Family Picnic of Food Tours and Entertainment. In fact it will be a 'pan university picnic' under cover - a greatly expanded version of the Engineers Picnic as part of The Gathering 2013.

UCD Engineers Picnic, Rose Garden 2013

 

Each College in UCD will plan their own event coordinated across college by the Alumni Association. More about this exciting new event in future blogs.

Our meeting also heard from our 3 Subcommittees on Corporate Membership, Gender Balance and Social Media. We also discussed arrangements for the next round of Final Year Mock Interviews for Internship positions which are now an essential element of the new 5 year Masters Programme.

 

We heard from EGA Secretary Dr Vincent Hargaden on the next edition of the Engineers Newsletter to be published later this month.

 

Fionnuala McGowan, Past Head of Administration for
UCD Engineering Graduates Association

 

  



Clare Ryan, Administrator for
UCD Engineering Graduates Association

 

Finally we recorded grateful thanks to our departing Administrative Officer and Board Member Fionnuala McGowan. We also welcomed her replacement Clare Ryan from the School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science. Fionnuala has served the EGA since 2007 and tributes were paid to her for her efficiency, dedication and endless good humour. I will write to her shortly on behalf of the Board recording our sincere thanks. We welcome Clare to her new role and to the Board and look forward to working with her.