Pity, say Roscommon people, that the ministerial cars heading for Wednesday's cabinet meeting in Ballaghaderreen - intended to underline the Government's commitment to the regions - were not forced to make the journey a few weeks ago.
First of all, the stately motorcade from Dublin would have ground to a halt on finding the two main arteries to the west under water and closed to them. Then, they would have experienced first-hand the charms of a lengthy detour through poorly sign-posted diversions as well as the cratered, bone-shaking excitement of Roscommon's county roads. And then, goes the fantasy, an exasperated Taoiseach would have been jolted into action.
Aware that he has to face the 13 county representatives of the Border, midlands and west regional assembly immediately after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he decides to get some answers. So he picks up the phone and rings . . . who? It's the million-dollar question for the population of the Shannon basin. Which single body or person would the Taoiseach ring to find out what precisely was happening here ? Would it be the OPW, the ESB, Coillte, Bord na Mona, Inland Waterways, Shannon Regional Fisheries, the IFA, Duchas, any or all of seven local authorities? No one knows.
A report carried out for the IFA at one point by consulting engineers Delap and Waller remarked there were six Government Departments and 20 other State, semi-State, or interested bodies concerned with the 210-mile river. The upshot is that farmers who had to house cattle in sheds as early as September because of floods, who watch their winter fodder diminish to dangerous levels and their cattle grow increasingly malnourished, who nervously anticipate the "usual" floods that traditionally arrive at the end of January and early February, and the additional damage these will wreak, find that there is no single statutory body to which they can take their case.
At a recent meeting in Athlone organised by the IFA, the 500-strong audience could only watch in dismay as one body after another disclaimed responsibility. The ESB denied it was flooding the Shannon, Bord na Mona denied it was clogging up the channels with silt and the Office of Public Works announced to general amazement, that it had no responsibility for navigation on the river. This, said the OPW representative, had been handed over to Duchas, the heritage service, and Duchas was not represented at the meeting.
Farmers and residents of the Shannon basin know they don't live in isolation. They are well aware of the threat of global warming and the devastating floods across the world. Michael Lyons of Cornabulla say they are resigned to the fact that the winters will not get any better - "with global warming, there has to be a knock-on effect."
Local TD Denis Naughten, whose own family farm goes underwater annually, says they are well accustomed to flooding. "To us, flooding is neither new nor strange. But this year, we've seen land and farmyards flooded that haven't been flooded since 1954. It's the level that is different this year."
The Roscommon county manager, Eddie Sheehy, confirmed this by pointing out that 70 per cent of the average monthly rainfall fell in the four days up to Christmas Eve. Nonetheless, many firmly believe local conditions can be manipulated for and against them. Jim Connolly, from the aptly-named Newtownflood, noted that in one 12-14-hour period after Christmas, the flood level fell by a surprising four inches.
"It had to be done by the ESB. Four inches is a huge amount of water. Someone had to be controlling it . . . Everyone around here thinks that the ESB do have control. Everyone will tell you that the water levels can fall when it's spilling rain and rise in dry weather. Now how could that happen if there wasn't some kind of control?"
The chairman of the Shannon Action Committee, Paddy Halligan, claims it has evidence of this control. On the Friday of one holiday weekend in the 1980s, the gates were opened in Athlone but not opened in Meelick until the following Tuesday, thus flooding all the fallow lands. "It caused what we'd call a flash flood in the area between Athlone and Meelick. We know this happened. Now, how can we be sure that this hasn't happened since - or won't happen again?" The Meelick weir problem is not of recent origin. One councillor, Sean Beirne, recalled that it was a lifelong regret of the late M.J. Costello that he never completed his mission to blow up the same weir in 1924. Siltation from Bord na Mona works is also seen as a major culprit.
There has been no shortage of reports on the Shannon flooding problem. The 44-year-old Rydell report was the first. Prepared by Louis Rydell of the US Army's Corps of Engineers, it was the result of an inquiry from the government to the American ambassador after the devastating floods of 1954-55. While Rydell suggested "an aggressive approach", his conclusion reflected the complexities surrounding the problem ever since: "Drainage improvements on one of the tributaries . . . might solve that problem, but by accelerating the flood run-off might create another problem on the main stem."
Drainage experts say the dilemma is a simple one; the channels are two narrow. When waters build upstream, there is nowhere for it to go.
But the central problem, say locals, is that amid all the talk and reports, no one statutory body has tried to tackle the problem in a co-ordinated way.
Concern is not confined to farmers and residents. Enterprise Ireland has commented on the difficulties of promoting industry in the west, when the two main arteries can be closed for up to 10 days at a time.
Most people agree a Shannon council, with control over a wide range of issues including water levels, would be a key component in resolving the problem. The important thing, says Adrian Leddy, is the new authority would have "teeth" and "complete control of the whole catchment area".
What the people of Shannonside do not want to see, as one frustrated farmer put it, is another report or another "patronising political tour". This time, they want results.