Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to support my colleague, Senator Dolan, in regard to Lough Funshinagh. As the only Government representative living in County Roscommon I am well aware of this issue. The Leader will have heard me raise this before. No matter how many flowery speeches we make they will not solve it. We have a court decision which unfortunately has sided with Friends of the Irish Environment. We have to work on legislation. I acknowledge the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donovan, is working hard on this. Senator Dolan is right in what she says. I am afraid what could happen now is that any time there is an issue with flooding anywhere in the country, some of these people will refer to the Lough Funshinagh judgment and when there is an emergency the Government will not be able to act. It is in the interests of the State to ensure this matter is settled. We are going to have to go through the EU, we will have to make legislation, it will not be simple but we must do it. We have a massive problem. A meeting will take place on 4 July and hopefully we will get to a situation where this can be solved but it is urgent.