Ms Geraldine Murray:

I thank Mr. Fallon, the Cathaoirleach and members of the committee for this opportunity. I will focus for the next few minutes on where we have come from and where we are today with regard to Lough Funshinagh.

Lough Funshinagh, as Mr. Fallon said, was and is classified as a turlough and is referred to as Ireland's disappearing lake. Its sudden disappearance can take as little as two days and can happen every four or five years. The last disappearances of the lough were in 1986 and 1996. Surface catchment contributes to the inflow of the lake. The lake measures about 38.8 sq. km and, until the time it expanded due to flooding, had a maximum coverage of 600 acres, increasing to more than 1,300 acres in 2021, so it is twice the size it was. It is also a special area of conservation.

I will take the committee down through the years, particularly from 2016 to 2021 because that is when the flooding really started, and it has not reduced to any great extent since. In 2016 the lough reached a record high. The first home was under threat, with 6,000 sandbags trying to keep a foot of water at bay. Two pumps, one pumping 50,000 gallons of water an hour, were manned 24-7 by volunteers working four-hour shifts.

In 2016, the previous high water record set in 1995 was surpassed by about 1.2 m and a huge earth bund containing about 2,000 tonnes of earth was erected in Ballagh, which is one of the affected villages, in an effort to withhold water and prevent flooding. Despite an exceptionally dry winter in 2016-17 water levels remained significantly high and remained above normal levels. This is turn results in a higher base when moving forward into each successive year. Public roads were raised at that time by 1.2 m in places and the building of flood defences continued unabated.

I will move on to 2018 when the then Minister of State, Kevin Boxer Moran, proposed a pipe be installed to bring the excess water to the Shannon. The Lough Funshinagh flood relief scoping study commenced in October of that year. However, in 2019 there was a lot of frustration because the scoping study was quite slow, but it came to fruition after approximately ten months. The report suggested that a pipe to Lough Funshinagh was possible.

I refer members to slides 5 and 6 to see photographs of the flooding when it started in 2016. Farmyards began to be encroached by water. Two hay sheds are shown in the photographs. On slide 6 members will see a farmyard completely covered with water. The public road in front of the gate is also completely covered and it was not operational for quite a few months. The public road to an entire village had to be closed off and another access and exit route identified. In 2020, there was heavy rainfall. Calls persisted for an overflow pipe all summer. Lough Funshinagh was then 2 m higher than in August 2019 and from an observational perspective - I do not unfortunately have any hard data - there was devastation of the local flora, fauna and the habitat that was once the hallmark of Lough Funshinagh. It was no longer recognisable. Pumps and sandbags replaced what were once beautiful landscaped gardens in the village of Ballagh. Slide 8 shows photographs of pumps in front of the houses, sandbags, etc.

I will move on to the village on the other side of Lough Funshinagh. Members will see two photographs of the entrance to a farmyard in lower Lisphelim on slide 9. The farmyard and the entrance to the farmyard are completely covered with water. Hay sheds were gutted with water. I ask members to observe the difference between the two photographs. In one the water is perfectly clear. After a while it goes completely muddy. Imagine that going into your farmyard. This gentleman's house is beside and to the left of the shed and the septic tank was also flooding. The public road along lower Lisphelim was completely cut off as members will see from the next photographs which show two roads completely covered by the over-swelling lough.

In winter 2021, waters were rising daily and edging closer and closer to the homes and farmyards. More pumps were activated to try to keep the water at bay and were at full force outside some of the homes in Ballagh. This was the situation in January with three months of rain still expected. The roads had been raised by a further metre. They were going up each year, reaching a rise of two metres - or 6.6 ft which I understand more - notably in Ballagh and the village of Lisphelim. The CEO of Roscommon County Council called on the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, OPW, to provide funding for an overflow pipe to prevent worsening floods and flood damage and to remove excess water. Needless to say there were truly heartbreaking scenes in Ballagh at the time.

In the spring of 2021, Lough Funshinagh was at the highest level ever recorded, measuring at least 3 m above the highest average winter level. By that time one house had been destroyed by flooding and pumps prevented three further homes from flooding. An order was signed in June by the CEO of the county council for flood relief measures to commence immediately under the Local Authorities (Works) Act 1949. In August, legal action was taken by Friends of the Irish Environment, FIE, and the council vowed to defend the project in court at that stage. FIE however successfully applied to the High Court to have plans for an overflow pipe quashed. Locals appealed to FIE to drop the case. The project was withdrawn by the council amidst much fear in the local communities.

In October, the CEO of the county council signed a new order under the Emergency Powers Act to remove excess water from Lough Funshinagh. In December, a further legal challenge to the councils relief plans was brought by FIE in court on 21 December seeking an injunction to stop the works. FIE secured that injunction preventing any further construction works taking place until the matter was fully determined by the courts. However, at the court hearing in March the judge upheld the injunction pending a full judicial review. However, the county council did not have the means to proceed with the judicial review. The decision and its outcome and conclusion left everyone in the villages devastated.

It is important I run through the slide about 2022. The county council called on the Government to cover the significant legal bill and wrote to ask that four issues be considered. It called on the Government to cover the significant legal bill facing the council following the High Court action by FIE; called on the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, to intervene on behalf of the council to progress the stalled work and any future emergency plans; requested that the Government repeal the lake's designation as a turlough and as an EU habitat site, arguing the lake no longer fits the characteristics of a turlough; and requested that the planning regulation be amended and clarity given on the Local Authorities (Works) Act to allow works to be conducted to save the homes by the lake in the future. It argued that these classifications, along with formal guidance, would help the council respond to future emergency works and urged the Government to progress reform of judicial reviews and legal costs.

On the next few slides, members will see more houses that were flooded by the water as recently as a couple of years ago. It is important to focus on slide 16. Members will see the same house in three different situations. The first photograph shows it as it was many years ago prior to 2016. The second photograph was taken after it had been invaded by water although the water had dried. In the last photograph members will see a house that was saved from Lough Funshinagh flooding in 2016 but is now in the process of demolition. The digger was supposed to arrive last week to finish the process. The local community had gathered in support of the owners, the O'Meara family, but were left standing in the rain looking at what was a home for many years and now does not have a roof or windows. Floors have been removed and the rain, wind and the day were battering the shell. At the back of what was once a beautiful home are the remnants of family living and a massive earth embankment built in the hope of protection from the flooding. Alas this was not to be. A basic human right surely, is the right to have a home, to be able to live in a home, to not be forced out of one's home due to flooding that could have been prevented. We hope not to see any more unnecessary evictions or relocations. This is not what the community wants. This is the first demolition and we hope it will be the last.