Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)

The Minister of State will be well aware that on 11 August this year members of the Mallow angling group reported dead fish in the River Blackwater which, in turn, led to an investigation by Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Cork County Council and the Marine Institute. Fish mortality in the River Blackwater is on a scale that we have never before seen in this country. It is heartbreaking for the wildlife and natural habitat of the area. I would like to note that the committee on the environment has scheduled a meeting for the agencies concerned to come before it on 30 September and I want to thank the Chair for his engagement on that.

However, significant concerns still remain unanswered. The bottom line is that we still do not know what killed upwards of 40,000 fish in the Blackwater, which includes 40 km of water. That is quite extraordinary. I do not present myself as any expert in the area and I am not a scientist in any way, shape or form, but there has to be some evidence of the particular chemical agent, which was referred to by IFI, that killed these fish and polluted our water. The distress this has caused among many communities along the river is quite extraordinary and the outpouring of grief in the community is huge.

People, including me, have come to realise the importance of the river, and have realised the extent of pollution within our rivers across the country. This ecological disaster has taken quite an emotional toll on anglers, regular users of the river and members of our communities. I know many people who have fished on the Blackwater for upwards of 50 years and it has been a deeply distressing and depressing situation to be in for the past month. Added to this is the lack of communication and answers. A level of anger remains in Mallow and its environs, and I am right there with the people on that.

On the State agencies, I appreciate the fact that this was an extraordinary event that took place on the Blackwater. I was, and still am, dumbfounded by the lack of detail and communication from all State agencies involved in this ecological disaster. I attended a meeting in Mallow GAA sports complex, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley - it is much appreciated that he came and met the people of Mallow - and State agencies in late August.

The presentation given on the day by the IFI was nothing short of a disgrace. I, along with many members of the community, left the meeting with more concerns and questions than answers. The presentation consisted of four slides, two of which contained one word. If it was not such an important issue, it would have been extremely comical that a State agency in front of us was giving a presentation that, with all due respect, could have been given by a primary school child. That is not disrespectful. I fully believe the level of detail and communication afforded to the members of the community that morning was disgraceful.

Along with that, people did not know about the meeting. As the local TD, I have lived in Mallow for 25 years and did not know the IFI was coming to present to the community, and neither did members of the community. Only for the fact that a member of the public saw the information on the IFI website that morning, people would not have been made aware of the meeting. If I was reading between the lines, I presume that was the intention, namely not to have a significant number of people attend.

As the local TD, I should be allowed to act as a go-between between the State agencies and the constituents I represent. However, getting people to answer the phone or give concrete answers to my questions was extremely hard, which led to huge public anger. The fundamental issue is that our rivers across the country are not being protected. They are being constantly polluted by individuals, companies or State agencies. They are seen as some sort of a dumping ground for waste and, as horrific as it is to say, we have come to accept that. However, we will not accept it in Mallow. In plain English, we want to know how, when and who polluted the River Blackwater, killing upwards of 40,000 fish and destroying an entire ecosystem.

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