The community around Lough Funshinagh in south Roscommon came out in their hundreds last night to show their support for works to continue at the lake to alleviate flooding.
A public meeting in St Johns Community Hall in Lecarrow was attended by up to 300 local residents as well as a number of local councillors and Oireachtas members.
The meeting was given a summary of the history of the lake and heard that it had not drained completely since the late 90's.
The failure of attempts by Roscommon council to resolve the issue for people whose homes and lands were threatened by flooding was also detailed, and Oireachtas members pledged their support to working together to get the lake declassified as a Special Area of Conservation.
Former IFA President Joe Healy who chaired last night's meeting said no one wanted to cause any damage to the environment and all they wanted was to be able to live their lives as they had done before the lake had started to flood.
