{"id":246024,"date":"2026-01-15T12:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/246024\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T12:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T12:17:14","slug":"epa-standing-idly-by-as-sewage-leaks-into-cork-rivers-michael-collins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/246024\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA ‘standing idly by’ as sewage leaks into Cork rivers – Michael Collins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent Ireland has accused the Environmental Protection Agency of \u201cstanding idly by\u201d as sewage leaks into pristine West Cork rivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s leader, Michael Collins, has introduced a bill that would mandate Uisce \u00c9ireann to begin repair work on wastewater leaks or discharges within one month of detection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Deputy Collins said his constituents deserve far greater accountability from Uisce \u00c9ireann, given the large sums of money the organisation is seeking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In last year\u2019s budget, funding to Uisce \u00c9ireann was increased by 29% to spend on water infrastructure and facilitate housing development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cAnd what are we getting for that?\u201d Deputy Collins said on Newstalk Breakfast<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have communities that have raw sewage going into the clean rivers, we have burst millions of water pipes in communities and no accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one knows when they’re going to be repaired.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2PGTMY9 Untreated sewage in Dublin Bay in 2020. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n

The Cork South West TD urged the Environmental Protection Agency to be more proactive when leaks are reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I’m looking at this in my own constituency and every other constituency throughout the country; the EPA seems to be standing idly by,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey fined Uisce \u00c9ireann \u20ac26,000 in 2024 from Macroom to Milton Abbey in County Clare and Shannon Vale in Clannachilty for leaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know of six communities in West Cork in my own constituency that have raw sewage going into their clean rivers for the past 20 something years and no fines being applied.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" Raw sewage being discharged into the sea. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n

At the very least, Deputy Collins added, communities should be given estimates on when repair work will take place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery community has a right to know whether it is five years, 10 years, 15 or 20 years that their local wastewater treatment tank will be repaired and they won’t be leaking into their clean rivers,\u201d he argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne community in West Cork, they had 14 water leaks and another one, the 15th, since last July, burst water pipes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don’t know when the water pipes are going to be replaced, they don’t know when the next break is going to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just repair, walk away, repair, walk away. So communication is going to be a huge issue here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The EPA has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

Main image: A split of Micheal Collins and a polluted river. Pictures by: Alamy and RollingNews.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent Ireland has accused the Environmental Protection Agency of \u201cstanding idly by\u201d as sewage leaks into pristine West…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-246024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}