Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our friends in the Visitors Gallery, Ms Cara Hunter, and Dr. James Wilson, but they have left. I did not fully hear Senator Chambers when she was speaking first but I think she was calling for a debate on issues with social employment schemes and Tús workers. I certainly support that because while there has been some movement from the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, which I welcome that, there are one or two issues that, if they were they sorted out, would ensure such schemes would retain their importance for not only rural communities, but urban communities as well. They are very important in different areas of life.

I wish to return to the matter of Lough Funshinagh that I brought up last Thursday. Last night, more than 300 people attended a meeting in Lecarrow, County Roscommon. This is where there has been a major flooding issue due to a turlough that is no longer draining. This has been an issue for a number of years. The local authority, Roscommon County Council, with the support of the Minister and the Government provided funding for an overlay pipe to take the excess water. Unfortunately, the Friends of the Irish Environment objected to that, took the local authority to court and won its case. That annoyed people but the reality is we now have a court judgment and we have to deal with that. In fairness to the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy O'Donovan, he is trying to address this issue. A number of other Ministers, including the Taoiseach, are concerned about it. We must try to get heads together on this matter because it is an injustice. It is unjust to people whose homes, which were never flooded, will now be flooded and will have to relocate. Something has gone wrong in the area. Nobody can put a finger on what has gone wrong but we have to take those people out of their misery. It may be a bad summer but rainfall is below previous levels. In that area we are lucky there has not been excess rain despite the poor weather. If the weather turns bad for three or four weeks when we go into the winter, there will be stories to be told in that area. We need to put our heads together, write to the Minister and push this on as quickly as we can to get something done to ensure those people will not suffer any longer.