Flooded fields, homes and farm buildings under threat and a constant pressure to find grazing and fodder sources, is fast becoming a way of life for farmers near the shores of Lough Funshinagh in Co. Roscommon.
People living in the area now fear that water levels in Lough Funshinagh, traditionally a turlough (i.e., a seasonal lake) could surpass current record levels.
Roscommon County Council has been forced to close a road at Ballagh, and also warned some families to leave their homes because of the threat posed by the rising water levels.
Eamonn and John Leonard, a father and son who are farming at Lough Funshinagh, told Agriland that every day they have to face the sight of flooded fields and a road outside their farm gate that is submerged in water.
They also shared the difficulties they now have to overcome in travelling greater distances to tend to their animals due to road closures, and the added cost that water damage has brought to their farm.
According to the Leonards, they have also been forced to transport a vet who came to their farm via the bucket of a tractor, as the route to animals could not be travelled by car due to the high water levels.
Future for Lough Funshinagh?
John Leonard is a young farmer, who once had aspirations to renovate and live in a house on the farm, but the risk of further damage to the site that is just a few feet from the rising water’s edge, has caused him to lose optimism.
His father also acknowledged that farming in the area was becoming unviable due to the impact of the flooding, and that his son may have to look at emigrating to Australia as an alternative.
Looking out at his family’s farm, John told Agriland that all he wants “to do is farm our land”.
Friends of the Irish Environment
Proposed flood relief work cannot be carried out at Lough Funshinagh due to a High Court challenge that was taken against actions on flood relief work by the Friends of the Environment (FIE).
The proposed works include the construction and laying of a pipe that would see water from Lough Funshinagh, which is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), pumped into the larger Lough Ree.
The director of FIE, Tony Lowes said: “The planning application announced in March 2021 was informed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and was to employ a special procedure under the Habitats Directive as part of a planning application to An Bord Pleanála in order to legally undertake the proposed works.
“However, at some point in early May 2021, a decision was taken by the council to abandon this legally compliant approach and to undertake unlawful works.
Lowes detailed that Roscommon County Council “thereafter sought to twice advance works without a lawful basis. In neither case did they offer a defense to the courts”.
Lowes added that the FIE has “stood in solidarity with communities in areas such as Middleton and Lough Funshinagh who are impacted by climate change”.
“We appreciate the anguish and anxiety that people are experiencing in the local area, but the issue is the OPW’s decision not to fund the proposed scheme on cost/benefit grounds and the council’s subsequent illegal actions.
“However, by deciding to ignore the advice of the NPWS and pursue unlawful schemes, the council wasted almost one year in which it could have been advancing the planning application.
“It is quite conceivable that a proposed flood relief solution could have been approved by now had the council remained on the legally compliant pathway that they had been on before May 2021,” Lowes said.
Lough Funshinagh flood crisis committee
Since 2016, the Lough Funshinagh flood crisis committee has been raising awareness of what residents in the area are facing on a daily basis.
A recent meeting was hosted recently by Sinn Féin MEP, Chris MacManus, between representatives from the committee, the EU director for biodiversity, Humberto Delgado Rosa, and Sinn Féin TD for Roscommon-Galway, Claire Kerrane.
“It was very positive to hear director Delgado Rosa indicate that the EU’s Habitats Directive should not prevent emergency work taking place to protect the SAC (Special Area of Conservation), and that it should not take several years for an appropriate assessment to take place,” MacManus said.
Michael Beattie from the Lough Funshinagh flood crisis committee also said that there are environmental assessments being undertaken on a proposed flood relief scheme, but he believes that it may be some years before planning permission is granted.