Council confirms bill of over €250k for Lough Funshinagh legal challenge

The Chief Executive of Roscommon County Council, Eugene Cummins, has admitted that a long-running legal battle with environmental group, Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), over remedial works at Lough Funshinagh has left the taxpayers of Roscommon with a legal bill “in excess of a quarter of a million euros.”

In his first public comment on the issue since the council agreed in the High Court last week to cease all works at Lough Funshinagh, Eugene Cummins launched a scathing attack on FIE and robustly defended his own role in the lengthy legal saga.

Stating that the legal battle challenge brought by FIE had resulted in “over 10 High Court appearances” Mr Cummins said he was satisfied, without any doubt in his mind, that he had done “everything legally and humanly possible” to ensure that the residents and farmers living in the area around Lough Funshinagh could remain in their own homes.

“Every action I took, I did it legally,” said the Chief Executive, who expressed his anger and deep hurt at the outcome of the legal challenge. During a 20-minute address to councillors at the outset of Monday’s meeting, he said the legal proceedings taken by FIE had become “very personal” when they attempted to have him held in contempt of court, but added that this had been “rejected by the Judge.”

He was also deeply critical of the legal system, telling members that he had witnessed the Council’s Senior Counsel, Neil Steen, being “treated appallingly” in the High Court, and also a legal representative of the State being treated similarly.

“The Friends even quite successfully managed to convince the court that water effectively flows uphill,” said Mr Cummins, adding that “this might come as a shock to some people but water does not flow uphill.”

In his address, the Chief Executive said “the Friends” had eliminated “every bit of hope” that the people living around Lough Funshinagh had, and had left the local authority in “an impossible situation.”

“Every stone we unturned, they challenged it to ensure that we could not give comfort to those in danger of losing their homes,” he said, adding that the works that the council was proposing to carry out would have involved disturbing “the same rock that is disturbed when a slatted shed is being built or when a house is being built” but FIE had managed to convince the High Court that there was “a conforming issue.” He explained that this is something “that might happen” but it is not underpinned by legislation.

Mr Cummins said the council is planning to remediate all the works already undertaken by the OPW and the Council at the turlough in Rahara, and to take away all the pipes “and essentially we will walk away.”

The Chief Executive also warned members that the possibility of An Bord Pleanála granting a planning application for the proposed pipeline was “very slim” and that the “probability of failure was so great” that he did not feel that it was an option.

Describing the Friends of the Irish Environment as “strangers with no connection and no empathy” who had “invaded” the local community, Eugene Cummins admitted that he was “very angry, hurt, frustrated and disappointed” at the outcome of the legal case, and added that it was “a sad day for this nation of ours.”

Brendan Slattery, the head of the Environmental Unit at the council’s legal advisors, McCann Fitzgerald, gave an overview of the legal challenge taken by FIE, after which the discussion was opened up to members.

There was sustained and trenchant criticism of FIE from several members, including Cllr Laurence Fallon who likened the environmental group to “invaders” who had created “a scorched earth policy” in South Roscommon. He further claimed that the area around Lough Funshinagh is no longer a Special Area of Conservation as FIE had ensured that “everything in the turlough is now dead.”

Cllr John Naughten branded the whole affair “a disgrace” and said if a simple overflow pipe would have solved the flooding problem it should have been allowed to proceed. “We need to take a stand on situations like this.”

Cllr Donal Kilduff said “the law has been abused in this case” and added that he was “devastated” for the ordinary decent people of South Roscommon who are set to lose their homes as a result of the actions of FIE.

“Our country has to be ruled by the laws of right and wrong, but this decision has certainly not served the common good.”

“The residents around this lake are being subjected to mental torture,” said Cllr John Keogh, while Cllr Tony Ward urged the council to “continue the fight” to get justice for the “quiet, decent people” who have already lost 50% of their farm income, and none of whom want to be rehoused in any other part of the county.

A number of proposals were made by various councillors, and the Chief Executive said he would “never walk away without considering all the options.”

However, he said the only option open to the council at this stage that involved the least risk could be providing a home for those people affected by the flooding issue. He pointed out that this may not be at their original location in Lough Funshinagh.