I will share my time with Deputy McGrath.
This is a matter of concern to the people of Rathowen and the surrounding areas, including my home area. Glen Lake is a lake of approximately 50 hectares situated on the WestmeathLongford border. It is a designated special protection area and one of the most important over-wintering sites in the country for geese, ducks and swans. It has been subject to years of study and recording of various interested private and State bodies.
The lake is, therefore, of national and international importance as an over-wintering habitat for migrating water fowl. Its importance has been recognised under Irish and European law, having been designated a national heritage area and a special protection area which effectively means it is afforded special protection under EU Directive 79-409.
In the middle of September and since then, the Office of Public Works undertook work which resulted in cutting and deepening the old drainage channels into the drainage systems of the lake. The Office of Public Works maintains an obligation to maintain the drainage scheme under the Arterial Drainage Act, 1945.
It is years since such maintenance works were undertaken on this lake. There is a fear among committed local people, who constitute the Rathowen Community Development Company Limited, that the water level will fall and destroy essential wildlife habitats with further loss of endangered wildlife fowl. Since its foundation, the community group has recognised the importance of this great natural asset and has in its plans for the reinvigoration of this rural area a development plan which cost approximately £10,000 to prepare.
Since it was drained many years ago, the lake is flooded in periods of high rainfall, providing a perfect habitat for over-wintering fowl. Approximately 50 per cent of the Icelandic population of whooper swans come to Ireland every winter and 40 per cent of those arrive at Glen Lake because the habitat has everything they need. The view of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which is attached to the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, is that this lake is an important bird habitat worthy of conservation and should be conserved.
The work undertaken on Glen Lake raises concerns from the point of view of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It should not have taken place in the absence of consultation between the Office of Public Works, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the local Rathowen Community Development Association. I also understand that the National Parks and Wildlife Service is drafting a management scheme for this area and, accordingly, the possibility of conflict is evident in the works of the Office of Public Works and the management proposals of the National Parks and Wildlife Service in the absence of consultation and agreement.
It is clear that the Office of Public Works considers it has a statutory responsibility to fulfil and maintain all drainage channels resulting from arterial drainage schemes. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has a statutory responsibility to protect the conservation values which led to the designation of Glen Lough as a special protection area under the EU Birds Directive.
It is essential to ensure that any work undertaken is compatible with the wildlife interests on the lake. The Office of Public Works says it is doing maintenance work only, namely, clearing weeds and silt from the river. However, it appears that the channel leading out from the lake has been widened by at least one foot or more and the river bed has been similarly deepened. This results in a major increase in the cross sectional area of the water channel, which in turn increases the water flow by an amount which makes it nearly impossible for the water level to rise as the water flows out of the lake as quickly as it flows in.
If the water level rises it falls back at an increased rate and so cannot keep a body of water in the lake for any reasonable time. The result will be a drying out of the lake bed with a negative impact on the existing wetland habitat. If anybody proposes to undertake work on a special protection area or a national heritage area which has an area of 15 hectares or more an environmental assessment must be undertaken. I understand that the Office of Public Works is undertaking a hydrological survey which will identify the implications, if any, of the present drainage maintenance programme for the status of the Glen Lough as a special protection area for birds. The local people are concerned that the pivotal importance of this natural asset be preserved and safeguarded and that Glen Lough will continue to have an importance in the Rathowen area as a viable rural entity.
