Fermoy Weir will cost €5.5m to repair

The estimated total cost of repair to Fermoy Weir will top €5.5m, and Cork County Council, which owns the historic structure, has said it must now seek State funding for the work.

Fermoy Weir dates back to the late 18th century, when the town’s founder, Scottish entrepreneur John Anderson, built it, reputedly on the ruins of a 12th century structure, to power his new mill.

That mill closed more than 60 years ago, but in the more than two centuries since the weir was constructed, a local ecosystem had grown around it, with several amenities depending upon its artificially high water levels.

Questions over the future of the weir have swirled since 2006, when migrating salmon became trapped at the weir’s damaged fish ladder and fisheries officials demanded the removal of the weir.

A 2007 government plan to replace the weir with a lower structure was challenged by the local rowing club, which feared such a change would destroy its training grounds, upstream of the weir.

A stalemate persisted for a decade, and a 2019 breach caused a section of the weir — situated east of the bridge — to wash away, with water levels upstream collapsing by two metres as a result.

Last year, Cork County Council, which owns the weir — a listed, protected structure — secured planning permission to refurbish it, and it said at the time that funding for that repair had been secured.

However, Inland Fisheries Ireland has insisted on the installation of a separate fish pass on the northern bank, west of the bridge, to run parallel to the river, as a condition of any restoration.

Last week, Cork County Council members for the Fermoy municipal district and Oireachtas members for Cork East were given a briefing by county council management on the status of the project.

They were told the cost of the project will be “in the order of €5.5m”, inclusive of Vat. Of that total sum, the estimated cost of the weir itself will be approximately €1.5m, while the fish pass will cost in the region of €3.4m.

Council management told elected representatives they intended to “engage at a high level with the relevant government departments and agencies to seek funding support”.

They said planning consent required that “the fish bypass must be progressed to enable the weir remediation works and so the project cannot be subdivided”.

Council management added that the tender process “cannot be commenced until the necessary funding is confirmed”.