Ireland's largest dairy company to donate to charity after admitting polluting river in incident at Monaghan plant
The case was heard at the district court in Monaghan where Tirlán (formerly Glanbia) has a dairy processing facility in the local Lough Egish Business Park.
The plant makes long-life milk and cream versions of Tirlán's Avonmore products, primarily for export to the Asian market.
In an incident in November 2023, what IFI called 'high levels of grossly polluting matter' flowed from the plant into a nearby tributary of the Knappagh River.
The Knappagh River flows into the River Erne, one of the country's most significant trout and salmon rivers.
The Erne's brown trout used the Knappagh River and tributaries as an important spawning and nursery habitat.
The court heard that large amounts of a white-coloured effluent from Tirlán flowed into the waterway.
Samples taken by IFI officers found 'high levels of organic material in the effluent that was toxic to fish, insects and other aquatic life'.
Milton Matthews, the IFI's North Western River Basin District director, said the affected river catchment was classified under EU law as 'at risk', meaning it was already under pressure from a number of pollution sources and other stressors.
'This serious pollution event had a significant impact on the brown trout spawning and nursery habitat within the Knappagh River catchment,' Mr Matthews said.
The court heard that since the incident, detected on November 24 2023, Tirlán had put in place measures to prevent a recurrence.
These included regulator daily monitoring and visual checks of the facility and the adjacent watercourse.
Tirlán, which on Tuesday announced it had revenue of €2.66 billion last year, admitted the incident but was let off with the Probation Act on the undertaking that it make a donation to charity and cover IFI's legal expenses.
IFI's costs came to €15,000 and a donation of €5,000 was made to the Bawn Community Group to support the development and promotion of angling in the Bawn and Latton areas of Co Monaghan.
IFI said the donation was 'a welcome support to this long-established local voluntary group'.
The fisheries agency is urging the public to report pollution incidents or other issues of concern to its confidential number 0818 347424.
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