A community in full campaign flow

WHAT is it about a river?

So many of us have emotional ties with a river: childhood recollections of tickling trout and swimming in pools, or leisurely walks along its banks in later life.

Think of the songs Cork and Kilkenny people sing in Dublin pubs on All-Ireland final weekends and there must enough ballads about the Shannon for at least one CD.

But for many people, lesser known rivers and streams — much smaller than the Lee, Suir, or Shannon — are central to their lives and birthplaces.

It’s a never-ending romance. Last week, people in a thinly-populated rural community voiced their opposition, at the An Bord Pleanala hearing, to plans by Kerry County Council to take water from the River Sheen to supply Kenmare.

As lovely a river as any, the Sheen cascades its rocky way down to the sea, close to a top-notch hotel which takes its name from the Sheen Falls.

The opposition to the council’s plan is driven from Bonane, a community of about 200 souls halfway between Kenmare and Glengarriff.

The community has gained support for its campaign in Kenmare town and from wider angling and farming interests.

Bonane folk have been dubbed a ‘sticky’ crowd. Formidable when they mount a campaign, they have an impressive list of achievements, including a ‘pride of place’ award in 2008 for protecting their heritage.

When their small, national school was threatened with closure years ago, they not only resisted the Department of Education’s plans, they got a new school. The Sheen Valley boasts more than 400 archaeological remains, some of which can be seen in a heritage park Bonane has provided as a tourist attraction.

So, the county council was up against formidable opposition at the two-day hearing. Strikingly, what clearly emerged was a massive breakdown in relations between Bonane people and the council.

Experts in engineering and scientific fields for both sides sat behind tables on opposite sides of a large room in the Kenmare Bay Hotel.

Some gave highly technical evidence not easily understood by the lay person, but it took a man named Pat O’Sullivan to encapsulate the spirit of Bonane and a deep-rooted attachment to a place and a river.

As a former public servant, he said it pained him that those opposed to the council had lost all faith in public servants dealing with the issue.

The council had also ignored alternative proposals to take water from mountain lakes, he said.

O’Sullivan described the Sheen — believed locally to be named after Oisín, the son of Finn Mac Cumhail — as an iconic part of the valley.

The people appreciated the unique qualities of the river and its flora and fauna.

In a calmly-delivered presentation, he said the residents valued the diversity of the river and their ambition was to hand it on to future generations. Any project that, in their view, adversely affected the river would be resisted.

He said: “The Sheen River has been closed to salmon fishing for the past two seasons to allow stocks to recover.

This shows that stocks are at a dangerously low level and any interference with the water flow in the Sheen pool will potentially have a negative effect.

“The Sheen pool, the proposed extraction point, is the main holding pool for salmon returning to the river; they rest in the pool to recover and wait for the next flood to continue their journey to the spawning grounds. As a community, we want to see the salmon stocks recover, both for the commercial value of fish caught on the rod and to hand on the bio-diversity to the next generation.” A regular walker on the Sheen banks, he spoke of seeing otters and bats and also highlighted one of the main reasons for objecting to the use of Sheen as a source of drinking water — the possibility of additional curbs on farming activity.

The most arable land in the Sheen Valley is along banks of the river and its tributaries.

There was a huge fear that future regulations would have a crippling effect on the farming community, O’Sullivan said.

The council, on the other hand, has given repeated assurances that no additional restrictions will be placed on farming, or any housing and other developments.

Zealous Bonane people, who have plans to develop various visitor-cum-heritage attractions in the valley, have invested an enormous amount of time and energy in trying to block the council’s plans.

Kenmare still awaits a badly-needed, improved water supply and treatment plant. A decision from An Bord Pleanala is due in five to six weeks.

Meanwhile, flow on lovely river.