Fianna Fáil leader's Lough Funshinagh visit brought forward

A visit by Tánaiste Micheál Martin to view the flooding crisis at Lough Funshinagh in South Roscommon has been brought forward by nine days.

It was announced recently that the Fianna Fáil leader would be coming to the area on Friday, May 31, but this has now been moved to Wednesday, May 22.

The new date for the visit was signalled by the party's local Senator, Eugene Murphy.

Roscommon councillor Laurence Fallon is among those calling for emergency intervention from the State to deal with the record flooding in the area, and he recently said he felt the Tánaiste's visit was a hopeful sign in this regard.

"It would be unthinkable that he would come down here without very clear information as to the immediate way forward," Cllr Fallon commented.

Meanwhile an online fundraiser in support of Ellie McLaughlin, the mother of three who was recently forced to move out of her home in Lysterfield, Curraghboy, due to the flooding from Lough Funshinagh, has been continuing to attract donations.

The fundraiser was set up just a fortnight ago and, at the time of writing, the total amount raised in support of Ellie and her children had reached €15,830.

Alan O'Reilly's popular Carlow Weather social media account, which has over 112,000 followers on X (formerly Twitter), last week shared this aerial footage showing the recent expansion of the flooding around Lough Funshinagh: