The Office of Public Works has extended a deadline for submission of opinions on a controversial flood relief scheme proposed for Cork. 

Public submissions on the Lower Lee Flood Relief Scheme were due to be made by next Friday. 

The project will take ten years to complete and will cost up to €140m - but critics of the scheme say it will destroy much of Cork's riverside heritage and could actually increase the flood risk to the city centre. 

Seán Ó Muirí from the Save Cork City campaign says many of the people who will be directly affected by the measures simply aren't aware of them:

“We are very concerned that the people who this scheme will affect most aren’t actually aware of what the scheme is,” he said.

“Our focus is essentially to inform people about the scheme so that they can become aware of it in order to make a submission before the deadline on the 16th of March.”

The campaign has claimed that the current plans are too “heavy handed”, involving the construction of concrete walls in the city centre that could result in a loss of access to the river without any guarantee of alleviating flooding. 

Mr Ó Muirí has suggested that the plans could result in more water being channelled downstream faster into the city centre - where it would increase rather than reduce the risk of flooding.

In a statement the Office of Public Works (OPW) has rejected the claims and insisted that all walls included in the scheme are no higher than 1.2m - the recommended guarding height for city locations.

It said the walls “will not dramatically change a pedestrian’s view of the river.”

The new deadline for submissions regarding the scheme is March 16th.