It is damning to think that an environmental lobby group is trying to scupper works which will actually save the habitat around the designated area of Lough Funshinagh in Co. Roscommon, according to independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice.<\/p>\n

The elected representative for the Roscommon-Galway constituency was reacting to the news that the environmental lobby group called Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) is supposedly seeking to apply to the High Court for an order to put a stop to works.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the situation, Fitzmaurice said: \u201cIt is beyond belief that a group could be contemplating approaching the courts to halt these works.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I do not see how someone can be looking for an injunction when the designated site hasn\u2019t even been touched.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are emergency works; there are elderly people\u2019s lives at risk. These works will actually benefit the designated area itself and its habitats.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who witnessed the Turlough or seen photos of it prior to this excessive flooding in recent years and compared it to its current state would agree that the works need to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cA turlough is a managed landscape and this particular turlough hasn\u2019t been functioning properly for some time \u2013 leading to the destruction of habitats as well as the flooding of homes and farmland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this environmental lobby group had any regard for the so-called annexes that are in designated areas they wouldn\u2019t even be thinking of going into courts to block these works.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully common sense will prevail and these meddlers will not try to delay any works that are being done as we are approaching yet another winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lobby group is insinuating that they are taking this course of action on environmental grounds, but preventing these works will do more harm than good for the local environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prospect of further damage to local\u2019s homes and property also needs to be considered. Many of these families have lived in the area for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Fitzmaurice questioned why the FIE and its director from Co. Cork were threatening to interfere with the works at Lough Funshinagh. He added: \u201cOne would have to wonder if the FIE is acting as a front for somebody lurking in the shadows closer to home.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have to realise that the water from the turlough always ended up in the River Shannon anyway, whether it was underground or overground.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I have continuously said down through the years, the habitats directive \u2013 which was signed in by our now President, Michael D \u2013 is the banes of our lives; particularly when it comes to house building, infrastructure, forestry, ports etc.<\/p>\n

Concluding, he said: \u201cThe works that are being carried out at the moment will only accommodate the final part of the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is awful easy for someone from a lobby group to be up on a pedestal preaching when the turlough isn\u2019t at their door threatening to flood their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn top of that, it shows the disregard they have; that really all they are interested in is obstruction, because if they looked at the situation they would agree that the turlough is not functioning,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

For further information contact Michael Fitzmaurice at 086-1914565<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is damning to think that an environmental lobby group is trying to scupper works which will actually save the habitat around the designated area of Lough Funshinagh in Co….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[216],"class_list":{"0":"post-3501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-press-releases","7":"tag-lough-funshinagh"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3502,"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3501\/revisions\/3502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelfitzmaurice.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}