Who Pays for the Death of the Blackwater?

The summer of 2025 will be remembered for the devastation of the Munster Blackwater. Inland Fisheries Ireland’s own estimate says up to 32,000 salmon and trout were killed in a matter of days. For anyone who has grown up by this river, fished it, or simply loved it, this was a massacre of one of Ireland’s last great salmon waters. And yet, after weeks of investigations, meetings, and reports, the official conclusion is that no one is to blame. What angers me most is how Inland Fisheries Ireland failed to respond in time. The first dead fish were spotted on 9 August, but IFI did not attend the scene properly until 11 August. In those crucial 48 hours, whatever chemical or irritant entered the river had already dispersed. That delay meant that the “smoking gun” was gone before anyone could take samples. All we were left with were the corpses of fish — eyes swollen and gills destroyed — but no trace of the poison that killed them. If IFI had acted immediately, there might have been hard evidence. Instead, the trail went cold, and now we are told that “no causal link could be found.”

This proves that what happened in August 2025 is not an isolated case. The Blackwater has been poisoned before, and unless accountability is enforced, it will happen again. The official report makes one thing very clear: several industrial sites and wastewater plants were already over their legal limits in the weeks before the fish kill. North Cork Creameries, Millstreet Wastewater Plant, Dromahane Wastewater Plant, and others were named. But despite these breaches, the EPA and IFI decided there was “no evidence” to connect them to the fish mortalities. In my view, that is not good enough. If a site is already operating illegally, it should not be allowed to wash its hands of responsibility just because the exact discharge can’t be proven after the fact. Being over the legal limit should mean paying for the damage to the river. Full stop. We are told to trust the agencies. But the agencies are too slow, too cautious, too afraid of being challenged in court. Meanwhile, the river suffers. The Blackwater belongs to the people and the communities along its banks. We are the ones who live with the loss. We are the ones who see the dead fish first. And we are the ones who will see it happen again if nothing changes. IFI’s failure to act quickly, combined with the leniency shown to polluters, leaves the Blackwater unprotected. I believe IFI must be held accountable for their delayed response. Any business or plant found over the legal discharge limits should be made to pay into a Blackwater Restoration Fund — whether or not the exact link can be proven. And future incidents must be treated as emergencies, with same-day sampling, not days later. The Blackwater can recover, but only if those charged with protecting it start putting the river first — not excuses, not delays, not endless reports.

Mallow Anglers, River Blackwater, County Cork.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this go unexplained, in the following video you will see a spill from the general hospital here in Tralee, the fact that the river was tidal saved the fish. I sent the video to the KCC and they told me that it was a tank that was emptied from the local general hospital that cause the spill.