Cracks are already quite evident in the sea defences at Blackrock just a couple of months after the work was carried out
Louth County Councillor Tomás Sharkey has hit out at the shoddy work that was carried out recently to try and improve the sea defences in Blackrock.
A large sum of money was spent repairing and strengthening the sea defences in the last few months in the hope that scenes like the floods in the village earlier this year could be avoided in future.
However, after a few high tides and heavy rain in recent weeks the defences are already cracking and coming apart.
Now Cllr Sharkey is calling on Louth County Council to withhold payment to the contractors until the problem is rectified.
He said: “Only two months after a lot of public money was spent repairing sea defences at Blackrock promenade, the work has already started to break and fall away. I am livid that the work done was obviously not up to scratch, couldn’t stand one high tide and leaves the community in fear at what might happen when a strong storm comes to our shore.
“Already, the defences are shifting more than a foot away from the promenade wall, the pedestrian steps have broken and are unsafe and the sections of defences are rising away from each other.
“Resources are scarce enough without works like this failing. The community of Blackrock and the taxpayers of Ireland deserve better. I have asked County Council management to make a full report on why this has happened and also to hold back on payment to the contractors who carried out the work,” said the Sinn Féin representative.
Cllr Sharkey demonstrates the gap that has already developed between the defences and the promenade wall
