Failures that led to sewage being pumped into Cork river 'like the Keystone Cops', says judge

Uisce Éireann and engineering company Glanua Ireland pleaded guilty to a single charge of permitting deleterious matter to fall into waters

IFI senior environmental officer, Michael McPartland, said that though the material had been treated it was actually 'worse than raw sewage', it was effectively sludge going into the river. File photo

A series of equipment failures that led to sewage from the Macroom Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) flowing directly into the River Sullane in Co Cork was “like something from the Keystone Cops”, according to Judge Andrew Cody who heard the case at a recent sitting of Macroom District Court.

Uisce Éireann and engineering company Glanua Ireland were both prosecuted by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) in relation to two incidents of effluent being discharged into the River Sullane in 2024. Both the accused pleaded guilty to a single charge of permitting deleterious matter to fall into waters.