Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 September 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy

Fish Kill in the River Blackwater: Discussion

2:00 am

Photo of Pádraig O'SullivanPádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North-Central, Fianna Fail)

I will follow on from Deputy Whitmore. It is quite clear that everybody in the room might have been fulfilling their statutory duties to the letter of the law, or that is what has been presented. That may well be the case, but it is quite clear from listening to people on the ground and other public representatives over those weeks that there was an absence of information at times. People were not sure if they were meant to go into the river at some stage or whether they could take fish. There was just information everywhere. This is the first incident of this type that I have ever been involved with as a public representative and it has shown me the entire system around this area needs a dramatic overhaul. I mean a legislative overhaul, as identified by Senator Noonan. We could get bogged down in dates here and who knew what and when they knew it, but, ultimately, in future, is this report that we have got, which is inconclusive, let us call a spade a spade, where this incident ends? Will there be further investigation or a review at any stage?

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