Our river life is at risk of further mass casualties if the agencies responsible for its health do not reform their response procedures, according to Social Democrats environment spokesperson Jennifer Whitmore.
Deputy Whitmore said:
“Today’s multi-agency report asserts that a fish kill in the River Blackwater, County Cork in August which saw the deaths of up to 42,000 fish cannot be explained.
“The report was conducted by Environmental Protection Agency, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Cork County Council, Uisce Éireann, the Marine Institute, the Departments of Environment and Agriculture, and the HSE – yet none of these agencies could identify the cause of this catastrophe.
“The EPA only became aware of the kill up to a week after it may have occurred – by the time it had taken samples to identify potential pollutants, those pollutants would likely have already left the river and its tributaries, as well as the discharge flows of local industries.
“Biodiversity loss must be treated with the seriousness it deserves, and the health of our ecosystems must be prioritised – small anglers also depend on fish stocks in rivers across the country and are suffering as a result of our failure to protect our waterways.
“If we cannot identify the causes of fish kills, we will not be able to prevent them occurring in the future – our rivers harbour a delicate ecosystem which must be protected at all cost, for our wildlife, biodiversity and sustainable food stocks.
“Despite 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.
“It’s clear there must be a complete review of how agencies cooperate and work together immediately once a fish kill is identified – I’ll be raising this next week when the EPA comes before the Oireachtas Climate committee.”
September 26th, 2025