Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State has said, the Lough Funshinagh region in south Roscommon is an absolutely stunning limestone landscape of rolling hills. It contains the islands of Inchnamona and Inchmore. Lough Funshinagh is a turlough, which means it is a disappearing lake. However we know, fully, that it has not disappeared. In fact there has been nothing since 2016 only an increase, year after year, day after day. The SAC to the west of Lough Ree is actually at quite a high altitude, compared to Lough Ree. There are SAC conservation objectives about restoring the favourable status of habitats and species. Many of the feeding areas of wintering and breeding birds are now lost. Flood waters have risen, as I have said, year after year. This year saw the highest levels ever. The water is not disappearing. Damage has been done to the SAC and this is having a damaging impact on the people who are living there. We know there is a rich environmental heritage in the area. I know that farmers in the area have been the custodians of that landscape. They have been the custodians of that land and of that area and of the beauty that has been there for generations. I am talking about the families who live in the farming communities of Ballagh, Rahara, Lisfelim, Ardmullen, Gortfree and close to Curraghboy.

Like many of our public representatives, TDs, Senators and councillors, I have visited many times over recent years. We have regularly met with the Lough Funshinagh crisis committee and families in the area. I visited families and councillors there again recently. I speak regularly with the director of services in Roscommon County Council. I acknowledge the Trojan efforts of its teams on the ground to keep families safe. I have seen them with sandbags and pumps, literally on the water's edge, trying to keep the water back. Some might say it is an impossible task, but they have succeeded, even in spite of the highest water levels we have ever seen. The Minister of State mentioned that the lough reached high flood levels of 69.3 m above sea level. There is such community pride in this area. The Minister of State has seen this. I acknowledge that the Minister of State came to the area within a few days of coming into office. The community, which has such pride in its area, has had nothing but a rollercoaster experience, from flooding devastation, to a solution being proposed and progressed, to it being halted. This year again saw utter devastation in the area with the floods at their highest ever levels. This has caused mental anguish for people living in the area. The people have called their situation a living nightmare.

Recently, on 6 April, Storm Kathleen caused ferocious waves with winds driving waves and water overtopping into properties. I know the Minister of State has met these families. Mr. Kearney, like so many others, has his farm right on the water's edge in Ballagh. The pumps could not compete against the waves and the wind. What happened? Flooding into people's properties. The farmers have pushed out the lambing season. In other words, they are hopeful that they will have a little bit more land to actually farm on, to look after their lambs and sheep.

Mr. Barry Martin in Gortfree showed me the portrait that was made famous as a front page of The Irish Times. It is an aerial shot of his home. We can see really well-kept slatted sheds. The Minister has seen the photograph taken a few years ago of immaculately kept farmyards, with bales of silage and green, leafy trees. Now, all those trees stand shorn of leaves because they stand dead in the water.

These floodwaters creep relentlessly into the yard and into the sheds which are now under metres of water. A farm livelihood, built over 90 years, now stands desolate. The R362 regional road between Curraghboy and Rahara is now flooded. People cannot get from one place to another, which illustrates the impact on local communities. These families have suffered so much. Two families, including a young mother and her children, had to be evacuated, which the Minister of State noted in his speech. They have shared their distress on national and local media. Through all this devastation, these families have hope.They have hope to restore wildlife and they have hope to protect their homes. That hope rests now. They need action.

The Minister of State and I spoke in his first few hours in office. Within a couple of days, the Minister of State was down to visit them on 12 April. As he mentioned, he, with the OPW and the National Parks and Wildlife Service, met with these families. He saw their stories and experiences. He saw the hell they are living in right now.

The amount of investment and work to date by Roscommon County Council, under its chief executive, Mr. Shane Tiernan, is clear. In 2021, there was investment of €1.2 million and 60% of an overflow pipe is in place. However, these habitats must be restored to favourable status.

I know the Taoiseach made this situation a priority for a whole-of-government approach and that the advice of the Attorney General is now being sought. We need a solution. It has to protect the habitats and the species of the SAC and the communities that live there. Together with councillors, TDs and Senators, we all want to see a solution. That solution must be delivered before winter. It must be delivered before October of this year.