'I'm not God', Cork hydro-electric plant owner tells court hearing over trapped salmon

Salmon returning from the sea to their river spawning grounds and becoming trapped in the waters around a hydro-electric plant on the River Lee prompted Inland Fisheries Ireland to prosecute the owner.

Senior IFI environmental officer Michael McPartland said problems with the grates across the entry and exit points for the water divergence from the River Lee at Dan Twomey’s hydro facility — south of the old Cork waterworks and directly across the river from the Kingsley Hotel — resulted in salmon becoming trapped.

Mr McPartland said the grates needed to have bars with not more than 2in between them but that they were approximately 3in wide at this plant. He said there was a second breach in that some of the gratings were found open when inspected. These are required to be kept in good repair and in a manner preventing their opening or removal.

Mr McPartland explained to Judge Joanne Carroll at Cork District Court: “If they get trapped in there, they have no reverse gear to get out, so the lifecycle will not be completed.

“The gratings should be higher than the highest water flood level, and the bars no more than two inches apart.”

Solicitor for IFI, Vincent Coakley, said Mr Twomey was notified on July 11, 2023, of the presence of adult salmon in the hydro facility.

Mr Twomey was called by his solicitor Charles O’Connor to give evidence. “I have to open the grates to clean them, and what happens is the salmon goes in,” he said.

Mechanism

He said he would have to come up with a mechanism to prevent the salmon from getting in.

Mr Coakley, for IFI, said that in the course of his own evidence, Mr Twomey seemed to be pleading guilty to the offences with which he was charged. “There is floods in the river and then there is the Inniscarra Dam and I have no control of either — I’m not God,” Mr Twomey said.

Judge Carroll said nobody expected him to be God, but that he was required to comply with the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, and he needed to co-operate with IFI.

He replied: “I have worked with the fisheries for the last 21 years as true as my name is Dan Twomey… They are bringing me here to make an example out of me.”

In relation to his grates, he said IFI was concerned with poachers and that he was concerned with vandals breaking open his gratings.

Judge Carroll said she would be benign in the imposition of penalties if the issue was addressed, but that otherwise the fines could run to a maximum of several thousand euro.

Address

Mr Twomey said: “I will address it. And I will have [IFI engineer Barry O’Connor] with me to verify it is addressed. I am not in the business of killing any fish.”

Judge Carroll said to the prosecution that Mr Twomey indicated that he now wanted to comply with IFI requirements.

Mr Coakley, solicitor, said: “That is what we want. If he had, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Mr Twomey added: “I have co-operated for the last 21 years — they can’t say I didn’t co-operate.”

Solicitor Charles O’Connor said of his client: “He is a very reputable operator; he has always co-operated.”

Judge Carroll said: “I think this man is willing to address matters. In my mind, it should have been addressed between August 2023 and September 2024 — it is in the interests of society and fish stock.”

To allow time for full compliance, Judge Carroll adjourned penalty until June 25, 2025.