Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not labour my point any further. I thank the Minister of State for a very open and frank exchange on the issues I have raised. It is good to know that a meeting will take place. There are two things that should be borne in mind. First, the lake continues to expand, by 4 ft in one year, despite all that has been done to address the problem. Second, I know it is a peculiar argument to make but the reality is that because the lake is associated with a SAC, the flooding has led to the destruction of flora and fauna. Unless we can get some way around this issue and do something extraordinary, we cannot act on what is happening. The SAC aspect is a major issue. We have an extraordinary situation of a lake that used to disappear but is now expanding and we cannot get a solution to it.