Large numbers of farmers gathered outside the civic offices in Athlone on Tuesday, coinciding with the OPW public consultation on the Shannon Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management plan (CFRAM).

“There is nothing in it for farmers or rural dwellers,” IFA president Joe Healy said, expressing his disappointment with the report. “As a report it covers areas in relation to towns and villages but the farmers have been totally ignored.”

The chair of the Shannon system flood alliance, Tom Cleary, added that if the Government is not going to do something about it, farmers are going to come together and do it themselves.

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny “waded through the 2ft of water at our home and saw the devastation and promised that he would help us the people affected – we are still waiting”, said farmer Michael Dunning.

Lough Funshinagh

Remediation work has begun on the Lough Funshinagh turlough. The height of the turlough is reportedly the highest it has ever been at this time of the year.

Material is being loosened to free up the swallow hole. However, a member of Roscommon county council said that if the problem is further underground, it will be “virtually impossible to fix.”