Firms in court over river pollution that threatened fish and sensitive habitats

Irish Independent

23-04-2025

The four separate incidents took place in rivers that provide vital spawning or feeding grounds for the country's dwindling freshwater fish stocks.
Despite the seriousness of the incidents, however, the fines, charitable donations and legal costs the culprits were ordered to pay came to less than €20,000 in total.
The cases were finalised in recent weeks or months following investigations by staff in IFI's western region.
One involved the construction company, BAM, which allowed a load of silt to escape into the Drumcliff River and Collinsford Stream in Co Sligo, turning the waters milky brown.
The incident took place at a roadworks site on the N16 at Lugatober in April 2024 where BAM was overseeing realignment works.
The judge at Sligo District Court applied the Probation Act and ordered the company to pay €1,000 donation to a community organisation as well as costs of €6,393 to IFI.
A second case involved Gilvarry Farming Ltd which allowed silage effluent to flow into a tributary of the Cloonaghmore River in Co Mayo, an important salmon and trout habitat.
Ballina District Court heard the incident at Lisglennon, Killala placed further strain on a river that was already struggling from a conservation perspective.
The farm also received the benefit of the Probation Act on condition that it donated €2,000 to IFI's salmon and sea trout protection fund and paid €2,000 costs and expenses to IFI.
In another case, the Tullynamoyle Windfarm in Co Leitrim was prosecuted for a silt flow into a tributary of the River Bonet at Lisnagowan.
Sligo District Court heard the river was a sensitive habitat where fishing was only permitted on a catch-and-release basis as IFI worked to revive declining salmon stocks.
The pollution caused by the silt flow posed a serious threat to the river.
The company was convicted and ordered to pay a fine and costs amount to €4,900.
A plant hire company, Norris Plant Hire, as given the benefit of the Probation Act and ordered to give €1,000 to a charity and pay €1,000 in costs to IFI arising out of a related incident at the same location.
Mary Walsh IFI's western region director said afterwards that IFI was determined to protect the country's rivers.
'This pollution was needless and avoidable,' she said,
"Environmental damage such as this impacts water quality and freshwater fish and their habitats.
'Landowners should all pay due respect to the surrounding environment they work in.'
A landmark report published by IFI late last year chronicled pollution incidents since 1969, finding they resulted in an average of 40 fish kills a year, with the casualties at times running into the thousands in a single incident.