Locals outline Lough Funshinagh flooding 'heartbreak' on RTÉ radio

Three locals living close to the record level of flooding at Lough Funshinagh in South Roscommon spoke about the crisis to a national radio audience on the Today with Claire Byrne show on RTÉ yesterday (Thursday) morning.

With water levels at the lake having exceeded the previous record in recent weeks, Claire Byrne spoke to local Independent councillor Laurence Fallon, and to Eamon Leonard and his son John.

Cllr Fallon has called for an emergency to be declared by the Government at Lough Funshinagh, and has written to Simon Harris urging him to visit the area after his expected appointment as Taoiseach.

During the radio appearance, he gave a summary of the current situation at the lake.

"This lake is at a totally new level... it's least three and a half metres higher than it should be in a normal winter," said Cllr Fallon.

"The difficulty for us is that the drainage of this lake is through underground caverns, through limestone rock. There are five streams and rivers coming into (Lough Funshinagh), but the only outlet is underground caverns.

"This lake began began to change in the way it was operating about 2010, but certainly since 2015 it has been at a totally new level where it has risen dramatically and has not gone down in the summer at the level it should have gone down.

"Everything in the lake is dead. It was a very special Area of Conservation and an NHA (Natural Heritage Area), and farmers around the lake, all 42 of them, understood that and protected the way they farmed around the lake.

"We are, tragically, looking now at trees up to 50 years old that are dead.... we had a solution to put in a pipe to take away the excess water from the normal high winter level. We're not talking about draining the lake.

"(The pipe) was 75% in when the Friends of the Irish Environment stopped it through a High Court action.

"We currently have one house destroyed and gone. We have three more that are being protected by pumps and are under the level of the lake. We have four farmyards that are being destroyed.

"We currently have four large pumps, using thousands of litres of diesel, 24/7, protecting the families. The lake has now reached a new level. It's 1.69 metres higher than it was this time last year.

"We are on the edge of a catastrophe, where up to three houses could be flooded overnight if a pump failed or a dam was to burst," he added.

"What we need is urgent action to take a quantity of water immediately out of the lake and, in the longer term, to allow the pipe to go in to restore the lake to its natural level, and save the environment as well."

Eamon Leonard and his son John also appeared on the show to talk about the impact of the flooding on farming in the locality, as well as the toll it had been taking on a personal level.

"You are not talking, and your family are on to you saying why aren't you talking? You say, 'Sure what can I talk about?' There's nothing I can talk about only one thing, the flooding in Ardmullen," said Eamon.

"It's such a heartbreak on everybody here."

Eamon also said he would welcome a visit to the area by Simon Harris after he becomes Taoiseach.

"It's about time somebody started coming down, because I think we're just being pushed over. It's the same thing, same thing, same thing, and nothing is being done," he said.

You can listen to the Lough Funshinagh segment of the programme here.