Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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On the weekend of 8 and 9 June last, a major incident occurred on the Allow river, which is a tributary of the Munster Blackwater, in which over 5,000 fish were killed. That included species such as salmon, trout and lamprey.

The reason I raise this here today is because I am concerned, in the first instance, about that fish kill and that we do not have as of yet the full facts established as to how that happened.

I read about this incident on the RTÉ News website. It was Joe Mag Raollaigh who was reporting on it. Mr. Mag Raollaigh stated in that report that, "The investigation is being conducted by Inland Fisheries Ireland ..., the State agency responsible for the protection and conservation of freshwater fish and habitats."

That immediately prompted me to seek a briefing from Uisce Éireann, which operates the Freemount wastewater treatment plant. When I sought the briefing, I received correspondence from it basically stating that "A representative from Uisce Éireann is not available to brief the Deputy directly as our investigations are continuing and we will provide further updates in due course." I am given to understand that they provided a further update to an Oireachtas committee yesterday. However, I find that response to be unsatisfactory.

The IFI, to be fair, when I sought a briefing from it, was far more forthcoming in the facts that it sent to me. In a briefing that I received from the river basin district director, he states:

[A] Senior Fisheries Environmental Officer went directly to the location and began an inspection of the river Allow immediately upstream and downstream of the plant. The river was littered with dead fish - trout, salmon fry, lamprey, eels; there were no insects, caddis flies, water bettles, nymphs or any indicators of life up to 4 kms downstream. A follow up inspection 10th June identified that up to 8 kms of the river was affected. IFI estimate that at least 5,000 fish of various species were killed.

Irish Water have confirmed that an accidental discharge of Aluminum Chloride occurred on Sat night/ Sun morning. ... [Irish Water or Uisce Éireann] conducted operations to remove the contaminated soil and drain at the plant yesterday.

This is a serious incident because fish kills arising from entities that are operated by statutory bodies in this day and age are entirely unforgivable and entirely avoidable. I feel sorry for the people of that region who have invested so much in the upkeep of that river as a major tributary of the River Blackwater.

I have questions for the Minister. I wish to know whether the EPA, as the environmental regulator of Uisce Éireann, has the power to prosecute if it finds that there is fault at play here because if it is the case that Uisce Éireann was not fulfilling its statutory obligations in relation to the safety of the river, it needs to be put through the rigours on this one. Given the seriousness of the event, has the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, communicated with the statutory authorities in relation to this matter?

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising this important issue and allowing me to update the House on matters relating to it on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

As the Deputy will be aware, a serious pollution incident, resulting in a significant fish kill, occurred on 8 and 9 June on the Allow river, a tributary of the Munster Blackwater river. On Sunday, 9 June, Uisce Éireann was made aware of an incident at one of its wastewater plants, Freemount water treatment plant, in north Cork, with the result of chemicals entering nearby waters. Once the incident was identified, mitigating actions were taken immediately at the wastewater plant.

Inland Fisheries Ireland responded quickly to the incident, having been alerted to a spillage on the river and moved to an investigation phase, including carrying out water sampling in relation to the incident, which continues to be investigated. The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Parks and Wildlife Service were also notified. IFI is awaiting the report of the independent accredited laboratory in relation to the surface water samples taken at the time of the incident. It is important to note that Uisce Éireann has also assured the community there has been no impact on the quality of drinking water. Any spillage occurred downstream of the intake point for the plant and, therefore, would not impact on quality of water entering supply.

Given the numbers of vulnerable fish species in the affected waters, the pollution incident is an ecological disaster for fish in this river, at a time of significant biodiversity loss. Having said that, I can assure the Deputy that IFI, as the statutory body tasked with the protection, management and conservation of the inland fisheries resource, is extremely proactive in its efforts to prevent pollution incidents and will continue to exercise vigilance when dealing with pollution incidences and will utilise its powers to gather evidence and where warranted, use this evidence to bring cases before the courts. IFI has previously taken successful prosecutions in such cases. Inland Fisheries Ireland is empowered to undertake a variety of different types of protection patrols and inspections on different types of water bodies at different times of the year, as part of preventative measures to avoid pollution incidents on our rivers and lakes.

In the immediate aftermath of this incident, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has written to Uisce Éireann on this matter, as the Deputy inquired. There was previously a serious incident at the Freemount water treatment plant in August 2022, which was investigated by the EPA with specific findings to be addressed at that point. The Minister had requested Uisce Éireann to develop an enhanced standard of environmental protection in consultation with both the IFI and the EPA. The Minister will be meeting the CEO of Uisce Éireann on this matter in the coming weeks.

The Deputy raised the issue of an EPA prosecution. Based on case studies and precedent, that is more a matter for the IFI. However, it would be the EPA's responsibility to work with the various actors to ensure that this does not happen again, as well as finding out how it happened and to put in the preventative measures.

As I have alluded to, Deputy Eamon Ryan is fully abreast of this and will be engaging with all stakeholders and statutory bodies, as the Deputy mentioned. Of course, it is important to note that there is an active investigation into this pollution event and further action, including potential legal proceedings, will be informed by the outcome of that investigation. As the Deputy will understand, it would be remiss of me to go further than that in my reply.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I welcome the Minister of State's reply. I genuinely do, because that brings the story along. It is reassuring to know that the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has written to the statutory body involved here and that a meeting will take place with the CEO of Uisce Éireann and we will see what the result of that meeting will be.

I feel sorry for the people of this region, and particularly the Kanturk and District Trout Anglers Association, which had a Trout Anglers Federation of Ireland's all-Ireland river championship competition scheduled to take place that weekend. To quote from themselves, as reported by Sean Murray in the Irish Examiner, that "celebration of our sport and a positive impact to the local economy is now gone".

These things are entirely preventable. What really worries me is the fact that, as the Minister of State noted, "There was previously a serious incident at the Freemount water treatment plant in August 2022". That being the case, the warning lights were shining. What preventative measures were carried out to prevent such an incident occurring again? Clearly, Uisce Éireann has a massive case to answer for this.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I share the Deputy's disappointment, and particularly for those local groups in the area who were impacted and the real loss of sporting opportunity as well as commerce to the region.

That is not something that should be stated glibly.

Obviously, the Government takes this major pollution event extremely seriously. As the House is aware, farmers have been asked to escalate their efforts around water quality protection, and therefore State agencies must do the exact same, if not a bit more. Moreover, there is a duty on the State bodies and actors in the public sector to take the lead in ensuring the risk of pollution incidents is minimised.

Investigations are continuing into the very serious incident raised, and there may be consequent legal proceedings. It is imperative that lessons be learned from this event so we will be in a stronger position to ensure the prevention of such events in the future. That there was a previous incident, in August 2022, does not mean the one under discussion is the same. There are different areas. Lessons may have been learned from one incident but, unfortunately, a different event may lead to secondary incident. Regardless, that is semantics because incidents of this nature are a significant source of concern owing to their devastating ecological impact, as well as their commercial and societal impact on the entire region.

The Minister has written to Uisce Éireann on the matter. He will be meeting its CEO shortly to be briefed on what systems Uisce Éireann will put in place to avoid a repeat of this kind of incident and, indeed, discover what happened, how it was resolved and what will happen to make sure it does not happen again. That is what we want to achieve.

I thank the Deputy for raising this and I will ensure the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and his officials stay in close contact with him as and when the investigation proceeds.