Councillor slams lack of cross-border support for Pettigo flooding solution

Cllr Michael McMahon criticised British authorities for not being interested in flood relief of the River Termon to protect Pettigo from flooding.

The Sinn Féin councillor said that flooding risk from the River Termon in Pettigo was a “cross-border issue” with “good bits of it in the six counties,” and that “Brits, being Brits, are not interested.”

At September’s Donegal Municipal District Meeting, Cllr McMahon responded to an environmental report detailing the flood relief scheme, and in particular, flooding in Pettigo from the River Termon. 

The report stated that at an April 2025 meeting between staff from Donegal County Council and elected members and various state officials in Northern Ireland, officials from the Department of Infrastructure (DfI) Rivers from Northern Ireland “undertook to review the business care for a flood relief scheme in Pettigo, with the caveat that much of the physical works would likely be required on the Republic of Ireland side of the border.”

Members from Donegal County Council advised at the meeting that they did not “currently have funding for a capital project to address flood risk in the community.

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“This is because, to date, preliminary flood risk assessment completed by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for Pettigo has not indicated that a cost-viable scheme for risk present is available.”

According to Donegal County Council, study outputs from DfI Rivers on the River Termon would be expected towards the end of 2025.

Cllr McMahon commented: “It is a cross-border issue. There is a lot of work, and the good bits of it are in the six counties.

“If we had an All-Ireland, it could be worked on, but the Brits, being the Brits, are not interested.

“We need a solution to it. I must say the guys from Flood Relief were more than helpful. We need somebody from the council to see what can be done.

“If we are serious about small towns and businesses like Pettigo, we need to make sure that we have a cross-border issue on it.

“I know Minister Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) came down and looked at it, but he never really came back on it. 

“It is not that big of a job, but it is a necessary job for Pettigo. It is happening on a regular basis, and the last thing we need is people’s lives held at stake.”

Cllr McMahon had previously spoken about the risk of flooding in Pettigo in December 2024, following Storm Bert, where he said a certain amount of businesses had water flowing in them.

He said: “I spent time with the residents there. The river flows down past Britton’s, then hits Briars, etc, growing there. Then it is overflowing.”