Funding being sought to stop elderly Donegal woman's house from constantly flooding

A push will be made for funding to prevent flooding, which particularly affects an elderly woman in South Donegal.

The woman, from Cloghone, Belleek, right on the Donegal side of the border near Fermanagh, is in a perilous situation, as outlined by Sinn Féin councillor Michael McMahon, who stressed the need for an urgent solution to the issue.

“There is a lady who lives on her own,” he said. “She’s wheelchair bound following an amputation, and when there’s heavy rain, water flows in her front door. We can’t allow this to continue. I go there and can see her house getting destroyed. We’re not looking for a free lunch here. We need to get money to fix this. It’s not her fault, and she wants to live in peace. She wants to be safe. Old people need to feel safe in their homes.

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Bundoran-based Cllr McMahon said that flooding is an issue countywide and particularly in his own municipal district of Donegal. He called for a meeting between Donegal County Council and the Office of Public Works (OPW).

“This needs to be arranged as soon as possible because the flooding in causing a lot of damage and this needs to be looked at,” he said.

“In my constituency, we have a lot of issues, which will worsen as the weather gets worse. The bottom of the village in Pettigo is almost flooded and there are houses and businesses there. Pettigo needs to be looked after. Donegal County Council is not being fair to it. The river flows into Fermanagh, and we need to ask the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council for their help on this, too.

“Portnasun in Ballyshannon was completely flooded. Some businesses didn’t get in for a day and a half. One of the business owners had a digger and cleaned the drain and I hope Donegal County Council can help with the rest of the work. If we want to keep these towns alive, we need to make things like this a priority.

“The OPW need to come into this chamber to see what they can do. There is certain money here to do this. People in the border region need to see some sort of action.”

Fellow Donegal councillor Noel Jordan added that flooding issues in Pettigo “are annual at this stage” and agreed that a flood relief scheme needs to be introduced, with consultation needed with the OPW and their counterparts from north of the border.

Bryan Cannon, Director of Roads, said the council may apply to the OPW for funding under the Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme, where a Council asset is at risk or subject to flooding, and the council receives direct funding for drainage improvement works from the Department for Transport to deal with drainage issues on regional and local roads.

He added that representatives from Donegal County Council and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council met with the River Agency in Northern Ireland, and that interaction between the OPW and the Rivers Agency would be facilitated to determine solutions to the frequency of flooding in Pettigo.

“I’m familiar with the issues in Pettigo and the other locations referenced by Cllr McMahon, one within the industrial estate (in Ballyshannon) under the ownership of Donegal County Council and the other along a national road (Cloghone) and the solution for the various issues, particularly for Cloghore, we have examined a number of different options for funding and we dont see that is at an end and we will continue to source required funding.”