Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

Uisce Éireann has recently been fined €3,500 for a pollution event that occurred in Cavan. This pollution event resulted in a 2 km stretch of riverbed being covered with sewage fungus and hundreds of brown trout dying. Unfortunately, this is not a one-off incident. If we look, Uisce Éireann is repeatedly fined for breaches of its licence and for causing pollution events. Unfortunately, the paltry €3,500 fine is laughable, considering the damage that is being done. This follows hot on the heels of a major and catastrophic fish kill in the Blackwater, County Cork. We need a complete overhaul of how the State deals with a pollution event. What we see is State agencies essentially treating our rivers like drains and not protecting valuable river systems. We need a rapid response team, a cross-agency team, to be set up immediately to quickly respond to pollution incidents and with the ability to collect whatever samples are required. When incidents are found, there has to be enforcement and fines commensurate with the damage caused.

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