DEVASTATION OF ALL LIFE IN UPPER ALLOW RIVER

The Board and staff at IRD Duhallow are deeply disappointed to hear about the chemical spill at the Irish Water Treatment Facility in Freemount, into the Allow River. IRD Duhallow has been working alongside farmers and the wider community on this river for decades through LEADER, LIFE and EIP projects. Our Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments EIP project, recently concluded after five years of working with over 100 farmers in the Allow River Catchment. We were delighted at the end of this project to see the four waterbodies targeted, improve in Water Framework Directive status as a result of the work carried out by Farmers and IRD Duhallow in this project. The buy- in and response from the farmers and community was laudable and an example to other Local Development Groups around the country. This chemical spill has left many, including the farm families, Angling clubs, communities and all at IRD Duhallow devasted, at the elimination of all life on this stretch of a most important and protected river, after all the good work that was done over the past decade and a half. This was totally preventable and should never have been allowed to happen. Let this be the last time.