‘Big problems on the way if drains are not cleared’ - Longford MEP Mullooly

Longford MEP Ciaran Mullooly has said the drains on land around Ballyleague must be cleared otherwise major problems are on the way.

The MEP’s comments came following a meeting between Minister Kevin Boxer Moran and local Ballyleague residents last Friday morning where the issue of local flooding was the subject on the table.

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Speaking to the Longford Leader, Mr Mullooly explained what propelled him to get the minister involved, “We're well used to flooding out here; I have seen it for nearly six decades.

What raised the alarm last week and why I contacted the minister on Saturday morning was that there were areas, laneways, and houses flooding last Saturday that had never flooded before.

The landowners involved contacted me and said that this was connected to the pumps being turned off, to the closure of the drains in some areas, and to the fact that we haven't cleaned the drains out from those bogs.

That's what raised the alarm for me. The minister was very kind enough to come over and he has given us a glimmer of hope now that we can meet the local authority, the county council, Bórd na Mona and Coillte and we can work out ourselves what we can organise in terms of deciding the best way to go about clearing the drains.

We have to clear these drains or we're going to have major problems with flooding in the future.”

The MEP added, “The issue is if Roscommon County Council can do the work, we have to ascertain that first.

Has it to be screened? Has it to be looked at? It probably has, but we have to start the ball rolling.

We can't just wait for the floods to come up like they did last weekend. The minister has said he's going to bring together the county council board, Bord na Móna and Caoilte together for a discussion.

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We have the maps, we'll look at the area and I would hope that we'll be able to bring some of the farmers along with us as well, to discuss the area.

We will show where the problem is and then hopefully the county council will carry out an assessment of what clearing has to be done.”