Due to the severity of August\u2019s pollution incident in the River Blackwater, Cork, the Garda\u00ed must be tasked with assisting in the uncovering of the fish kill\u2019s root cause, according to Social Democrats environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n
Deputy Whitmore said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI welcome the expanded investigation into what was truly a disastrous event – our rivers harbour a delicate ecosystem which must be protected at all cost, for our wildlife, biodiversity and sustainable food stocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Environmental Protection Agency has yet to identify any causal link between facilities along the river and the fish kill, and so the scope of this inquiry must again be broadened.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Garda\u00ed must now be brought into the investigation to provide expertise beyond the scope of the environmental agencies – there is a division of the Garda\u00ed, The Environmental & Waste Crime Investigation Unit, which deals with these issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cSignificant time has lapsed since the time of the kill – it\u2019s getting harder and harder to ascertain what happened here, so it\u2019s important that the root cause is unearthed as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much investigative expertise must be deployed as quickly as possible – CCTV from the time of the kill must be monitored to observe if any suspicious activity had taken place along the river.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall anglers depend on fish stocks in the River Blackwater and are suffering as a result of this environmental catastrophe – biodiversity loss must be treated with the seriousness it deserves.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite not being causally linked to the fish kill, findings highlighting that 362,000 litres of wastewater, with ammonia levels 30 times above the legal limit, were emptied into the river during a ten-hour period on the night of the fish kill is blatantly unacceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EPA must be empowered to keep a closer eye on wastewater practices at all times, not just when a disaster occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n
September 4th, 2025<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Due to the severity of August\u2019s pollution incident in the River Blackwater, Cork, the Garda\u00ed must be tasked with assisting in the uncovering of the fish kill\u2019s root cause, according to Social Democrats environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore said: \u201cI welcome the expanded investigation into what was truly a disastrous event – our rivers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[517,727,268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biodiversity","category-environment","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n