An environmental group has been granted permission to bring a judicial review of flood relief works in Lough Funshinagh, Co. Roscommon.

The High Court granted Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) permission on Tuesday (December 21) to bring a judicial review of Roscommon County Council’s Interim Emergency Flood Relief Works for Lough Funshinagh.

The works, involving the installation of an overflow pipe in a bid to prevent flooding, were approved by the chief executive of Roscommon County Council on October 14 last.

In granting leave to apply for judicial review, the court imposed a stay on any further works until January 14, 2022.

Roscommon County Council may apply to High Court to lift the stay at that time.

Lough Funshinagh

In November, Justice Garrett Simond ruled in the High Court that current flood relief works at Lough Funshinagh do not violate a standing injunction.

The original relief works, to construct an overflow pipe to divert the water into the River Shannon, were halted in August after FIE successfully objected to the plans in the High Court.

Roscommon County Council then retained the services of engineering and environmental consultants to examine how it could lawfully carry out an “emergency solution” without needing approval from An Bord Pleanála or any other third party.

FIE alleged that Roscommon County Council was in contempt of court by continuing with the works.

However, Judge Simmons ruled that the council’s actions do not violate the original injunction, allowing works to proceed.

The application this week in the High Court sought permission for a new judicial review.

In a statement, FIE said the interim works are essentially the same project as that which was quashed by the High Court on August 25, apart from the permanent inflow at Lough Funshinagh being replaced on a temporary basis with floating pipes and mobile diesel generators.

The group said it had “considerable sympathy with those affected by the water levels at Lough Funshinagh but the decision by the council represents an egregious attempt to bypass environmental and planning law.”

It claimed that if the council was successful it “would encourage similar law breaking by other State authorities in future with potentially perilous results for nature and biodiversity conservation”.

FIE said it “thought long and hard about the decision to bring this case, knowing that further uncertainty would increase the burden on the residents and their supporters who have genuinely sought this scheme as the solution to their predicament”.

“As we have constantly stated, the present project may in fact have been an appropriate engineering response to the flooding issues at Lough Funshinagh.

“However, there have been no environmental or cost-benefit assessments conducted as required to see whether the necessary derogation procedures under the various environmental laws could be employed to authorise the works,” FIE said.