On Monday evening last, at 14:21 hours, I was contacted (PM on Facebook) by Mr Jim Ryan, (Elected Local Councillor). He informed me that his associates had held a meeting ‘with a few experts‘, with regards to the state of the river Suir at Barry’s bridge in the town centre.
There was I thinking that I was going to be reprimanded, by my betters, for contacting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which I certainly did, in an attempt to get some action in my efforts to save the decline of the River Suir and to lower, at least somewhat, the filthy stench currently being emitted from its murky waters.
No, thank God, the EPA hadn’t informed Mr Ryan directly, about my daring activities. Instead he was anxious to obtain images of sewage flowing into the river, which he had been fighting to correct for over the past 11 years; with his colleagues failing to support him and he without a camera of his own and no sense of smell.
In the course of our brief communication, I must apologise to Mr Ryan for misleading him. I had stated that I thought that the emissions from the area at the Emmett street “swinging gates” side of the river walk had been fixed. However, I also had stated that because of nettles retained by our local ‘nettle hugging’ biodiversity individuals, same could not be fully confirmed.
I am now happy to confirm, using the Thurles.Info satellite; that fixing this problem, requested on June 30th, 2022(view Here); on October 14th, 2022(view Here); on June 28th, 2023(view Here); and again on October 26th 2023(view Here), was simply too much of a challenge for our elected double jobbers; what with the war in Ukraine; the war in Gaza, not to mention Covid.19 and the onset of space tourism.
I now feel embarrassed, as I report that the emissions reported two years are still happily flowing, leaching into the water; only in larger amounts than was reported previously back in 2022. Again the nettles forbid me from seeing the actual pipe and my only pair of wellington boots have sprung a leak.
Archival picture of sewage entering the river Suir taken in 2022. Pic: G.Willoughby.
Same sewage photographed two years later on Saturday last. September 21st 2024. Pic: G.Willoughby.
Meanwhile, the person who sent men into the river, without supervision, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, should consider their position and resign.
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We had expected this workforce to return to complete their cleaning work on Thursday, and Friday last, but alas, no show; hope they didn’t pick up anything, forcing them to take sick leave. The reeds were cut, using strimmers, and left to float on the water’s surface, blocking the two fish runs, and forcing the main water stream to flow directly over the low weir. Branches were removed from under the bridges arches and left partially in the water and on the river bank. As our video shows, despite no rain over the past 7 days, water is still flowing from a drain under Thurles Swimming Pool, directly into the river, as is a stream of water from pipes under Barry’s Bridge, which we reported last January, (view Here).
Anyone Missing A Sock? No effort has been made to collect the numerous years of litter, piled and hidden in the receding undergrowth, found in the river itself and on its banks, in the form of plastic bags, tins, bottles, clothing, etc. One thing I did discover; while Red Bull liquid may give you ‘Wiings’, their empty containers remain fully grounded, when caught floating in existing Blanket Weed (filamentous algae).
Yes, the public are totally responsible for this littering, but what are we getting in return for vehicle parking charges and for local property tax, the latter which has increased in Thurles every year, since it was introduced in 2013 except during local election years.
Members of Thurles Tidy Towns, Thurles Gun Club and myself had worked for absolutely no recompense to make this same area visually beautifully, which Thurles Municipal District Councillors and their officials have now turned it into a cesspit, having removing all its assets.
It may now be necessary to put together a working volunteer group to save this wonderful asset, for according to Mr Ryan (Cllr.), despite being set up in 2016, the outfit known as the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), have no immediate action plan in place and will require 4 months to make such plans, before urgent funding can even be applied for.
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