Roscommon community's 'hearts go out' to Storm Chandra flood victims
27-01-2025. School students make their way home over Nineteen arches bridge in Arklow, Co Wicklow which comes under pressure from a heavy river surge in Arklow, Co Wicklow. Photograph: Garry O'Neill.
The community around Lough Funshinagh has expressed its heartfelt sympathy to people affected by flooding caused by Storm Chandra.
In an online message this evening, the Lough Funshinagh Flood Crisis Committee said its “hearts today go out” to all those impacted by flooding right across the country.
“It is devastating to see so many homes and businesses destroyed by flooding while we all observe ongoing delays to flood relief works,” the committee said. “Many communities including our own are waiting far too long for action - decades in many cases.”
The committee said that the current Government needs to start taking flood risk management far more seriously, “and take a more proactive approach to flood management”.
“The acceleration of climate adaptation measures need to be prioritised.”
Members of the committee are to meet local Oireachtas representatives tomorrow over the delayed long term solution to the flood crisis at the lake.
The committee will meet with Claire Kerrane TD, Michael Fitzmaurice TD, Dr Martin Daly TD, and Senator Gareth Scahill about the planned overflow pipe. The meeting will take place in Government Buildings in Dublin tomorrow, Wednesday, January 28th.
It has been almost 12 months since the temporary pumping solution at the lake, which has a has a 24 month planning permission, was officially switched on in March 2025. Since the end of September, the water levels at the lake have steadily increased.
There was disappointment after it emerged last November that the application for a permanent solution to flooding at Lough Funshinagh would be delayed by six to possibly 12 months. It had been hoped that the application for the project would be submitted to An Coimisiún Pleanála by the end of 2025.
“Locals have become increasingly disappointed with the pace of the planning application and were taken aback with revised timelines for the submission which were communicated to them last year,” said the committee in a statement to this paper, written by committee Secretary Geraldine Murray. “The committee is calling for renewed focus on the project and continued involvement of political leaders including Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris. They are deeply concerned with the persistent delays and setbacks that have affected this project for several years, and are determined to ensure that complacency does not set in. This is still very much an emergency situation and that classification should remain in place until the proposed solution is completely operable.”
The committee hopes that the meeting can get “this very important issue back to the top table of Government, bring back much needed political leadership to this crisis, and help bring an end to this 10-year problem so that young and old within the community can get on with their lives once and for all”.
