The excessive rainfall this year indicates there is a risk flooding at Lough Funshinagh will be “even worse” next winter, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Kieran O’Donnell has said.
Minister O’Donnell, who visited Lough Funshinagh in Co. Roscommon shortly after his appointment last month, said he is “conscious” that temporary measures need to be put in place this summer in advance of next winter.
On April 20, 2024, the water levels of the lough reached their highest ever recorded at 69.38m above sea level, or 3.38m above the normal annual high level of 66m above sea level, the minister said speaking in the Seanad.
This spans to an extended area of 178ha with additional water volumes of approximately three million cubic metres or the equivalent of 1,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools, he said.
The minister said he has been trying to find a solution with the OPW and Roscommon County Council to reduce water levels over this summer. Legal advice was also requested to establish the best statutory consent route for any conservation measures.
Lough Funshinagh
Any conservation measure necessary for the restoration of this designated site must also mitigate any damage to the designated site at Lough Ree, where the excess waters are likely to be discharged, according to the minister.
Roscommon County Council established an expert working group for Lough Funshinagh that is compiling a report to establish evidence to support interventions that are necessary to restore the ecological condition of the lough, he said.
Legal advice was sought to establish the best statutory consent route for any conservation measures that may be highlighted in this report to ensure the conservation objectives of the qualifying interests of the site are being met, the minister said.
“Intensive engagement” between the Attorney General, Minister O’Donnell, OPW officials, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), and Roscommon County Council will continue on the matter, the minister told the Seanad.
“Roscommon County Council has deployed every emergency response achievable measure it can, through road raising, pumping and sandbags, to keep the rising water levels from entering people’s properties,” he said.
The rising water levels have led to public safety, human life and environmental issues. Since 2016, this turlough, or dry and disappearing lake, in a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) has not drained as it did previously, the minister said.
“For me, this is about two aspects. It is about the people of Lough Funshinagh primarily and it is about the SAC of Lough Funshinagh itself. On a human level, it is predicted that the water levels will be higher next winter than now.
“In practical terms that means we have to put measures in place between now and then to bring down the water levels on Lough Funshinagh. It is as simple as that.
“That will give two benefits. It will protect the SAC and the homes and it will lessen the misery that people, including the farming community, are suffering,” Minister O’Donnell told the Seanad.
“I understand people’s frustrations, but I ask them to stick with us so we can work on this problem by adopting a whole-of-government approach involving the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, me in the OPW, our officials, who are working night and day, and staff from the NPWS and Roscommon County Council,” he said.
Underground pipe
In 2021, Roscommon County Council started works to lay an underground pipe to take the excess waters, by gravity, to the River Shannon. These works carried out by the OPW, at a cost of some €2 million, are 60% complete.
On two occasions, the council was stopped, through judicial review, from undertaking and completing emergency works to install an overflow pipe to take away the excess water from the lough to the River Shannon which is 3km away.
Roscommon County Council has, since March 2022, been progressing the design and environmental assessments to find a solution to flooding in this area that can withstand judicial challenges. “This route will take some years,” the minister said.