Lough Funshinagh flooding ‘a travesty’ - Tánaiste
Tánaiste Michéal Martin.
The ongoing flooding situation at Lough Funshinagh in South Roscommon is "a travesty", the Tánaiste said today following his visit to the area.
Speaking with the media at Curraghboy after touring Ballagh and Gortfree-Lisphelim, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that there needed to be an understanding of the human impact of planning objections.
“I think it is absolutely disproportionate what has happened in terms of a legal objection to a pipe line that would have alleviated such hardship. It is difficult to comprehend how there is such a lack of balance in terms of progressing issues like this,” he said.
“Those organisations might blame county councils and OPW, that’s not good enough. We are all responsible for our actions, and in order to have a cohesive society, we need to weigh things up and I think what has happened here is a travesty,” the Fianna Fáil leader said.
“What has happened here is wrong in terms of its impact on people. I have seen the stress and trauma.”
He said that it did not appear to him that the consequences of the legal action were properly weighed up. He said that there clearly was a need to review planning laws and “the capacity that the state should have” to intervene to protect human life".
When asked whether Minister Eamon Ryan should also visit the lake, Minister Martin said that the OPW Minister Kieran O’Donnell had been to visit the area.
“I don’t think Minister Ryan has a responsibility for this, let’s be clear. We shouldn’t mix up the jerseys in this respect,” he said.
