New Taoiseach urged to visit worsening flood crisis at Lough Funshinagh

A South Roscommon councillor is calling on the incoming Taoiseach to visit Lough Funshinagh to see firsthand the "devastation unfolding" due to its current record flooding level.

Water levels at the overflowing lake recently surpassed the previous record, set in 2021, and the situation has resulted in the indefinite closure of a local road in Ballagh, Rahara.

Large industrial pumps have been in constant use for months now in order to prevent a number of homes in the area from being completely inundated with water.

"The situation at Lough Funshinagh is now at crisis point," Independent councillor Laurence Fallon said this week. "There are homes at high risk of flooding, farm yards and land destroyed, and the rain is continuing to pour and the water levels continuing to rise.

"Water levels are now 200mm higher than in 2021, with no sign of the rains to stop. The community around the lough is living in fear, with elderly home owners fearing for their houses if levels continue to rise or if pumps fail.

"If we continue on the current path to a solution, it will be too late to save homes and farms around Lough Funshinagh," he said.

"This is an emergency and it needs emergency intervention. The three Government leaders – the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and leader of the Green Party – need to come and visit Lough Funshinagh for themselves and find an immediate solution to the devastation that is unfolding here."

Cllr Fallon noted that Simon Harris, who is set to be elected as Taoiseach in the coming weeks, "was just a few miles away from Lough Funshinagh" yesterday (Sunday) when he spoke in Athlone and said Fine Gael would be the party of people in rural communities.

"I urge him to make Lough Funshinagh his first rural community visit when he is appointed Taoiseach and witness the fear and devastation, and the horrendous conditions people are living in, for himself.

"It is time that the Government could take charge of emergency situations and introduce emergency legislation to find a solution once and for all. We simply cannot wait another year. Time has run out for us."

Cllr Fallon added that, in addition to posing a threat to people's homes, the current flooding crisis was an environmental disaster.

"A Special Area of Conservation (at the lake) has been decimated and there is a growing risk of pollution extending over a wider catchment area," he stated.

The Lough Funshinagh crisis was also raised in the Dáil last week by a Roscommon TD, who described a response she received on the matter from Tánaiste Micheál Martin as "bizarre".

Sinn Féin's Deputy Claire Kerrane told the Dáil on Thursday that water levels at Lough Funshinagh were at 69.16 m above sea level and rising daily.

"At least five additional houses are now under immediate threat and another farmyard has been destroyed," she said.

"Older people in their 80s and 90s are looking at their lives' work totally devastated, young families with big mortgages are unable to let their children outside, and this devastation has been allowed to go on and on," she said.

In response, the Tánaiste initially said: "Water tables are very high at the moment across the country."

"They are extra high here," responded Deputy Kerrane.

Mr Martin said he accepted this was true, and he knew the specifics of the Lough Funshinagh case, but there was "no easy resolution" to it.

"I will certainly go back to the Minister if the Deputy has specific remedies on this," the Tánaiste concluded.