After news emerged that an environmental lobby group was seeking to halt flood relief works at Lough Funshinagh in Co. Roscommon, a TD from the constituency has slammed the move.
Roscommon-Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice said that it was “damming to think” that the environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) is “trying to scupper works which will actually save the habitat around the designated area”.
Lough Funshinagh, a special area of conservation (SAC) under Natura 2000, has been rising to unprecedented levels in recent years, with homeowners, landowners and farmers fearful of floods which they feel are imminent in the coming years.
“It is beyond belief that a group could be contemplating approaching the courts to halt these works.
“I do not see how someone can be looking for an injunction when the designated site hasn’t even been touched. These are emergency works. There are elderly people’s lives at risk,” Fitzmaurice stressed.
The independent TD argued: “These works will actually benefit the designated area itself and its habitats.”
He referred to Lough Funshinagh as a “managed landscape that hasn’t been functioning properly for some time” which, he highlighted, “was leading to the destruction of habitats as well as flooding of homes and farmland”.
FIE has confirmed its intention to seek an order to stop the flood relief works unless it received certain documentation from Roscommon County Council.
“The prospect of further damage to local’s homes and property also needs to be considered. Many of these families have lived in the area for generations,” Fitzmaurice stressed.
He added: “People have to realise that the water from [Lough Funshinagh] always ended up in the River Shannon anyway, whether it was underground or overground.
“It is awful easy for someone from a lobby group to be up on a pedestal preaching when the flood isn’t at their door,” the TD remarked.