GREEN Party councillor Seán Hartigan warns that proceeding with the Parteen Basin water abstraction, treatment plant, and pipeline to Dublin without integrating the Lower Shannon fish-passage measures could undermine legal obligations to restore migratory fish.
Cllr Hartigan submitted a formal observation to An Coimisiún Pleanála calling for Uisce Éireann’s proposed pipeline to be assessed in combination with the State’s planned fish migration improvements for the Lower River Shannon.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, he also raised concerns about the risk of locking out essential increases in ecological flows needed for the endangered European eel, Atlantic salmon, and lamprey species in the Lower River Shannon Special Area of Conservation.
“Two national-scale projects are converging at the same point on the Shannon: a major abstraction at Parteen Basin and a long-overdue programme to restore fish passage past Parteen Weir and Ardnacrusha,” he said.
“They must be assessed together. If we advance the pipeline on the basis of today’s minimum compensation flow alone, we may preclude the future ecological flows that the fish-passage roadmap requires.”
According to the City East representative, restoring fish migration on the Lower Shannon means higher baseline flows in the Old River channel, plus seasonal pulse flows for salmon and eels.
“Any abstraction modelling that doesn’t include these increases gives a false sense of security. We need a joined‑up decision that protects water supply resilience and biodiversity recovery,” he said.
Cllr Hartigan is now calling on An Coimisiún Pleanála to require an in‑combination assessment of the pipeline with the Lower Shannon fish-passage roadmap, including the enhanced baseline and pulse-flow regime. He also wants to see binding conditions if permission is granted to guarantee the fish-passage flow regime, adaptive management, and monitoring triggers so that abstraction never compromises migration windows for salmonids and eels.
There was no response from An Coimisiún Pleanála at the time of going to print.