Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising those specific points, which I will bring to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, and our colleagues in government. Be it a multi-agency task force or a co-ordinated national strategy, I will take the Deputies' suggestions on board.

This Topical Issue matter was directed to the OPW and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan's office. As I outlined, the OPW is effectively the contractor that physically gets the work done after other agencies, for example, local authorities or Departments, agree on how best to do so. We need everyone to work together. I assure the Deputies that we are working across the Government to find a solution for the people of Lough Funshinagh.

The OPW continues to work with Roscommon County Council, and is available to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in assisting the council in any way it can to find a viable solution to managing the flood risk at Lough Funshinagh. When the Minister of State last visited Roscommon, he called to the home of one of the affected residents to reassure him on behalf of the community of the OPW's continued support for the council. We hope that we will be able to find an effective resolution to the ongoing issues at Lough Funshinagh. I am mindful of the Deputies' comments that this situation has wider implications than for that community alone, which is why we are so determined to find a long-term solution. We will continue working on that across the Government.

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