The environmental group behind a high court injunction stopping flood works in Roscommon has refused to withdraw their legal challenge.
The Friends of the Irish Environment last week brought the injunction against works to construct an overflow pipe to drain the excess floodwaters from Lough Funshinagh in south Roscommon.
According to a statement released by the group this morning, they say it's 'entirely untrue to say FIE is against the works, and instead, they are is seeking them to be conducted with proper planning and assessment.
Last week's high court injunction was met with anger from residents and local representatives alike, with Roscommon County Council hiring an expert legal team to fight the issue.
Roscommon County Council says the water levels on Lough Funshinagh are presently 2.5 metres higher than usual and studies predict a risk of even more flooding in 2022 and beyond.
The urgent flood relief works were greenlit under the Local Government Works Act of 1949, which the Friends of the Irish Environment say will lead to a dangerous precedent allowing local authorities across the country to work outside of the planning system.
According to a statement to the Shannonside Northern Sound Newsroom today, FIE say their actions are not intended to leave residents at the mercy of rising water levels, and that they understand the anguish caused to families from the flooding.
They say it's 'up to the government to stand up and help working people who have spent their lives paying off mortgages building their homes from facing into these issues alone’.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Local councillor Donal Kilduff said that the environmental group's intervention is a prime example of why infrastructure projects take so long and cost so much.
He's branded the behaviour as contributing to the bureaucracy and inefficiency of Irish democracy, and damaging to the pursuit of a green and environmentally sustainable future in Ireland.
