MEPs seek action on Funshinagh flood crisis ahead of tonight's public meeting
Two MEPs have issued statements calling for greater urgency in finding a solution to the flooding crisis at Lough Funshinagh, in South Roscommon, ahead of a public meeting on the issue today (Monday).
The public meeting is taking place this evening at 7pm in St John's Community Centre, Lecarrow.
TD Denis Naughten and Senator Aisling Dolan are among those who have highlighted the crisis in the Oireachtas recently, with Sinn Féin MEP Chris MacManus and Fine Gael MEP Colm Markey both addressing the topic in press statements this week.
MEP MacManus visited Lough Funshinagh with his party colleague, Claire Kerrane, TD, and said the devastation which flooding had caused to the local community was plain to see.
"The continuation of this situation has come about due to a legal impasse which has prevented works from taking place to reduce the lake with a 4 kilometre overflow pipe to the nearby River Shannon," said the Sinn Féin MEP.
"It is bewildering that the case was taken by an environmental group to stall these works, given the huge threat this poses to the local environment and local diversity.
"Pollution is causing a major issue now, as the lake is encroaching on farmland, farmyards with slurry storage, and household septic tanks.
"There has been an enormous cost to biodiversity with many species such as whooper swans and curlews having disappeared completely from the lake. Every tree in the immediate area is dead."
Mr MacManus said the local community had been failed, and that he would be pursuing the issue with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and at EU level.
MEP Colm Markey said he had received advice at EU level that it would be possible to de-designate Lough Funshinagh as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), would could potentially clear the way for flood relief works to recommence.
Mr Markey said the Green Party Minister of State Malcolm Noonan ought to "stop hiding behind the line from his officials and put in place an assessment that would allow for the de-designation of Lough Funshinagh as a SAC."
The Fine Gael MEP said, "I have received clear guidance from the EU that de-designation is possible but that the request must come from the Member State and that the procedure for de-classification must be decided by that State.
"This is in direct contrast to the position taken by Minister Noonan's section of the Department who have publicly stated that the de-designation of Lough Funshinagh is not a national policy decision but a matter of European law and that there is no realistic prospect of de-designating Lough Funshinagh as an SAC.
"Either the Minister is taking an ideological position to keep in with the so-called Friends of the Irish Environment or he is being misled by his officials as to the possible options. Either way, the environment is suffering and local householders and landowners are suffering.
"I have written to the Minister asking him to undertake an immediate assessment of the current status of the habitat and the species that are the subject of the SAC. This will clearly show that the habitat is dead and the SAC designation is meaningless.
"It is time now for the Minister to take a proactive approach and to do whatever is necessary to restore Lough Funshinagh to its traditional drainage patterns.
"It is easy to hide behind an ideological debate when the water isn’t flowing in your back door. I am calling on the Minister to immediately put the people and the habitat first and help to come up with a practical solution for all," the Midlands-North-West MEP concluded.