UISCE Éireann’s proposed plans to extract over 300 million litres of water a day from the River Shannon to bolster supply to the east of the country was met with strong opposition from Limerick councillors this week.
Members of Limerick City and County Council, including Mayor John Moran, were united in their resistance to the national water utility’s pipeline project at a meeting this past Monday evening.
Concerns were raised in the Dooradoyle chamber about proposed plans to run a 172km steel pipeline to carry water from the Parteen Basin near Birdhill, County Tipperary, to a reservoir at Peamount, County Dublin.
Independent councillor Elena Secas took the view that Uisce Éireann’s abstraction plan is “simply wrong” and all other alternatives have not been considered.
“All that is needed to strengthen resilience in the east is proper storage and better interconnection between treated supplies without exporting environmental risk to the Mid West area,” Cllr Secas commented.
Fine Gael councillor Peter Doyle pointed out that Lough Derg is already under stress with blue green algae bacteriam which “will have to be treated with high levels of chlorine to kill the bacteria. The people in Dublin need to know that the water from the pipe is highly toxic.”
Social Democrats councillor Elisa O’Donovan said the Shannon abstraction scheme is “deeply flawed” and hasn’t adhered to appropriate planning application processes. She called on the local authority
“I’m requesting that this local authority emphasises in their report that the environmental impact assessment must include a fully integrated catchment scale water cycle assessment,” Cllr O’Donovan said.
“I would currently be very opposed to this project. I think there’s a lot of things left unanswered but I think we need all those questions answered.”
‘The only salmon you will see will be in a tin’
Green Party councillor Sean Hartigan took the view that the most serious omission in the Director General’s report to An Coimisiún Pleanála is the complete absence of any consideration of the Lower Shannon Fish Passage Project.
Cllr Hartigan, the only Limerick councillor to make a submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála and the Council’s sole elected Green Party member, pointed out that the water supply project and the Fish Passage Project draw from the same source and therefore must be assessed together.
“This is a nationally significant project. But it has profound implications for the Shannon’s ecological health, for the development of our region, for compliance with European law, and for the survival of species already under severe pressure.”
He said that “several key issues remain unresolved” with the project, “most importantly, the fish passage project was not considered”.
Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran O’Hanlon told Council members he spoke to many fisherman who raised concerns about the future of salmon, eels, and lamprey in the Shannon if the abstraction goes ahead.
“The number of salmon has reduced dramatically over the years. But if this goes ahead, the only salmon you will see will be in a tin,” Cllr O’Hanlon warned.
Independent Ireland councillor John O’Donoghue was of the view that Uisce Éireann’s abstraction plan is “against nature”.
“It’s not going to make financial sense. It’s not going to make common sense. It’s only going to part solve an issue that they’ve caused up in Dublin by letting it be overpopulated. If they’re going to cause that, they’re going to have to solve it themselves.”
Cllr O’Donoghue said that “we’re going to need to protect the people of Limerick and the Mid West”.
“This is not what’s right. This is not what should be done. We have to object to it.”
Mayor John Moran said the views heard in the chamber were very worrying. As somebody not equipped to be able to decide where the truth lies, he said, he was concerned about the potential impact of the scheme.
“From an ecological perspective on the River Shannon, I think this is an important point in terms of objecting to the scheme. It goes back to the question that’s been raised on different fronts in respect of the Mid West and the overconcentration on the east coast,” the Mayor said.
“The reality is we’re concentrating activity on the side of the island which has the least amount of valuable rainfall, has the least amount of potential for generating electricity in a renewable way, and forcing the outcome by concentrating activity in things like Dublin Airport.”
The Mayor called on the Government to take seriously their Ireland 2040 commitments and to invest in the four main cities outside of Dublin.
“Or, we may not have to discuss this at all, because we’d be using the water locally, and we’ll be using electricity locally. The Corporate Plan requires me to act in accordance with Government policy, but this is such a serious issue, I still want to lodge my objection to this,” he said.