The Meetings Administrator circulated a letter signed by the Cathaoirleach and the Chief Executive and sent to Minister Patrick O’Donovan on 18^th May.

The Cathaoirleach read out the five questions that have been posed to the Minister for reply as follows:

·         We invite you, and the Government, to repeal of the designation of Lough Funshinagh as a European site that contains turlough habitat.

·         We invite you, and the Government, to amend the planning acts and the Local Government Act 2001 to make clear what freedom the State considers a local authority should have to deliver an urgent solution to an emergency situation calling for immediate action.

·         We invite you, and the Government, to review the Local Authority (Works) Act 1949 and amend the same to ensure the powers under the legislation are effective for the purpose of the European laws on the assessment of the impact on the environment and/or habitats

·         We invite you, and the Government to provide formal guidance to all competent authorities on whether adaptation, by displacement of home owners, should be considered a “feasible solution”, when contemplating and adverse effect on the integrity of a European site

·         We invite you, and the Government, to amend the protection from legal costs to ensure that the Irish State is not more generous than required.

The Chief Executive stated that any or all works are unauthorised on this site and it is important that no one takes the law into their own hands with regard to any recent works that may or may not have been recently done and not is condoned by anyone in the Chamber.

The Cathaoirleach supported the Chief Executive in this regard.

 The Chief Executive updated the members on the current situation:

·         The Council will be at a loss on this project and facing a legal bill of €250k but had no choice but to take the action they did.

·         The issues are clearly outlined in the letter and it is the expectation that a meeting will take place between the Department and his officials and the Chief Executive and Director of Services. It is the intention of the Chief Executive to recover costs and bring clarity to the way forward – all issues as outlined in the court decision need to be resolved.

·         The Minister and OPW have been helpful to date and the Cathaoirleach will be advised if an escalation is required.

The Members discussed as follows:

·         The letter outlines the difficulties encountered in this matter and the lack of legal clarity on what can be done.

·         The State should have intervened when the flooding started due to the area being in a designated SAC

·         At the end of the day the there are people still afraid in their homes.

·         The habitat has long gone – there has to be a solution. This is no longer a turlough as it does not act as one. It was 1996 since it last acted as such and this must be addressed.

·         Roscommon Co. Co. is left with a legal bill of over €250k and this must be recouped. It is not our fault there is a lacuna in the legislation in this area.

·         The letter outlines succinctly what needs to be done – this must be pursued with great vigour. The Government need to address the issue that Irish and EU lad are not convergent in this area. It is not fair that the Local Authority cannot rely on the 1949 Act for emergency actions.