Mr. Conor Arnold:

Yes. I thank the Deputy. The timescale involved if the river is left to its own devices, given the species incorporated in this incident, could be anything up to ten years. As I said in my earlier statement, without prosecution, there is no crime and no law, and this could very well happen again in the near future or two years, three years or ten years down the road. If this does happen again on this scale in that river, then it is finished as an economic and recreational facility. It will be finished. I suppose we could say the same about any river basin in the country, basically. The fact that we do not have protocols and procedures in place to monitor the EPA licensed facilities, section 4 discharge facilities, means my business is finished for this year. Since 11 August, I have completely lost the two most profitable months of the season. From the vague information given, as the Deputy pointed out, we were not even aware if we could go into the river. That was relayed at a meeting in Mallow to Cork County Council and we did not get an answer on this point for quite some time. I do not know how feasible the river as a fishery is in future. The reputational damage to the river as a salmon and trout fishery, from a business point of view, is extremely serious. This is not to mention recreational angling for all the clubs involved and all the juveniles. They now have nowhere to fish, effectively. It is one thing for an adult to jump in the car and head off to another river, but 15-year-old and 16-year-old kids have nowhere to go now.