Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for the OPW and Flood Relief

The Cathaoirleach welcomed Mr. Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran T.D. and Minister of State to the meeting and Mr. Maurice Buckley, Chairman of the Office of Public Works.  He also welcomed Deputy Denis Naughten T.D.  and Senator John Dolan who were in attendance at the meeting.

Cllr. Ward expresses his shock and surprise that as a local elected member he was not afforded an invitation to meet with the Minister on his visit to Roscommon this morning especially in South Roscommon. He proposed that in future that all Elected members be invited to all functions and meetings from Ministers to the county of Roscommon. Cllr. Kilduff also expressed his upset saying he was very disappointed not to be invited to his Rindoon in his own parish this morning that there should be a protocol in place when a Minister visits the county to include all elected members.

The Cathaoirleach thanked the Minister and Mr. Buckley for attending as their remit of the Office of Public Works affected many ongoing issue in County Roscommon from flooding to Heritage. He invited the elected members to speak on their local issues:

·         Flooding at Milltown near Castleplunkett and Briarfield/Lisalway led to roads being closed for a considerable period of time in 2015. Considerable investment is required now to ensure the roads in these areas are remediated to mitigate against more flooding in the future.

·         The levels of Lough Fuinshinagh, although having reduced are still higher than they should be with adjacent lands still flooded. Action is required when the study, expected soon, is completed. Farmers cannot farm the land and are being penalised with their single farm payments.

·         Boyle 2040 is a shovel ready project with Part 8 Planning approved last week. The Council now require funding to progress the project as this project has the potential to transform not only the town of Boyle but the entire area.

·         Issue with Flood risk management at Aughnagrange in Boyle, Correal and Athleague and Clonown in South Roscommon. In Cortober access roads to the N4 are often flooded and is there a possibility of including upgrade works here in the Carrick on Shannon scheme?

·         Welcome the 10 year plan for the heritage site of Rindoon. This is a very important ancient settlement and immediate help is required to secure the building as one stone on the corner is keeping it intact presently.

·         Welcome visit of Minister to Rathcroghan – this ancient and very important site has not been developed properly. An aerial view shows the extent of the site.  Toilet facilities need to be developed for visitors and the OPW own an old farmhouse that could be converted on site. The farmers in the area have committed to cooperate with potential development of the site.

·         Level of silt on the River Shannon and lack of maintenance of the River Jiggy need to be addressed. Barriers are not the solution but actual remediation works in the rivers including lowering culverts at pinch-points

·         Welcome the visit to Roscommon Castle and commitment to fund accessibility to the tower for visitors.  Also welcome visit to the Abbey in Roscommon and the tourism office – all of our attractions are important to the Hidden Heartlands brand.

·         Ballintubber Castle is also in need of refurbishment

·         Can the Minister look at local drainage alleviation schemes?

Minister Moran thanked the Cathaoirleach and Members for their welcome and responded to the issues raised:

·         Athleague is included in Tranche 2 of the CFRAM plan but is Roscommon County Council are prepared to lead in relation to works his Department will support this.

·         Minister will work closely with the Chief Executive to progress all of the areas mentioned by the members that have flooding issues and need roads upgraded.

·         The Minister gave a commitment to look at the report on Lough Fuinshinagh that is imminent and deliver a solution as soon as possible.

·         €50k was given to RCC to set up a pilot scheme for River Jiggy and Hind. CFRAM identifies areas and solutions and his officials will look at further works and will contact to Minister Murphy to fund this work into the future.

·         There are 16 significant pinch-points on River Shannon from Meelick Weir to Athlone that need to be removed that affect the Callows and the River Shannon in totality. All of these proposed works will benefit Clonown when completed. These proposals have to be completed within given parameters and include all agencies working together to ensure that the slow moving Shannon releases water faster bearing in mind that it is in an SAC. Carrick on Shannon, Athlone and Limerick have been awarded funding to deal with flooding but there is a process to be followed to get completion.

·         The Minister gave a commitment to bring the Boyle 2040 project to the attention of the relevant Minister and he is aware of the proposed greenway

·         Rindoon Castle is a hidden gem in the Hidden Heartlands. The 10 year Heritage Plan 2018-2027 will include Rindoon and his officials will look at the immediate situation regarding the building.

·         Works to restore access to the tower in Roscommon Castle has been be approved and will add tourist value to visiting the castle while access to the Abbey in Roscommon will also be looked at by his officials.

·         The Minister noted a turlough study in Boyle, but stated that flooding is an issue he is very well aware of and is doing as much as he can to approve and promote works and solutions. He is also committed to Heritage and promotion of sites that are hidden gems and may be Tier 2 or 3 in classification.

·         The Minister will be visiting Rathcroghan in the afternoon and he hopes to have positive news for the site.

·         Works in Boganfin will commence in early 2019

·         He thanked the members for their support of Athlone for city status as it will benefit the adjacent counties. He also hopes that the ‘Hidden Heartlands’ will promote tourism in central Ireland and Roscommon is a big part of this.  He thanked the members for their ongoing support and stated that he is accessible to everyone and cam also be contacted through Deputy Naughten. His officials will collate a response to all of the issues raised and this will be issued to the members.

The Chief Executive welcomed Minister Moran, the Chairman of the OPW Mr. Buckley and all of the officials who visited Roscommon today. He welcomed Deputy Naughten and Senator Dolan. The “Hidden Heartlands” brand is a very significant development and the Chief Executives from many local authorities have advocated this type of initiative for quite some time. The Shannon Masterplan will be significant especially for Roscommon. He paid tribute to the OPW and the projects they carry out to the highest standard. While we are living in encouraging times and towns and villages are benefiting from funding, he told the Minister he was disappointed that Boyle was not included in the first tranche of funding but acknowledged the funding for Roscommon Town. He confirmed that Roscommon Co. Co. will take the lead in Athleague – this is a significant project.