Dr. Daire Ó hUallacháin:

I will try to answer a little in relation to dredging. That falls under the works of the OPW, but it is important to get a balance. While dredging may improve the flow, it damages the habitat. Some of the assessments the EPA undertakes relate to the insects that are living in these habitats. While one might increase the flow and there could be some benefits in relation to concentration, that would potentially damage the habitat that some of these other species, for example, insects, salmon or the like, are depending on. It is not as simple as just increasing the flow to make sure that our concentration is reduced.