‘Nobody knows what happened’: The row over the non-vanishing Roscommon lake

Lough Funshinagh hasn’t drained since 2016, leading to flooded landscape and environmental legal tussle

Mary Beattie and son Padraig as the water from Lough Funshinagh enters her garden. Picture: Mick McCormack

It is the disappearing lake that hasn’t vanished for six years. Lough Funshinagh in Co Roscommon usually drains through a “swallow hole”, as if someone has pulled the plug in a bath.

But for an unknown reason nature’s plumbing in this turlough has broken down, flooding an area thought to be twice the lake’s usual size and threatening homes and livelihoods.