Funds to restore free flow to seven Cork waterways

Seven river projects across Co Cork are to benefit from State funding as part of Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) plans to remove weirs, dams, and other barriers.

The projects are among 103 such schemes around the country which will receive funding from a €13.6m investment by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

That investment aims, the department said, “to restore free flowing rivers by addressing physical barriers such as dams and weirs impacting our waterways”.

Funding recipients include State bodies and local authorities.

In Cork, the projects identified for funding are: Clondulane Weir, Glashaboy Weir, Ovens bridge, on the Bride river, two weirs in Doneraile, the Araglin bridge apron, and the Bride river bridge apron.

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Clondulane Weir is downstream on the Blackwater river from Fermoy Weir, which is a listed, protected monument situated in the heart of the town, and the property of Cork County Council.

Local activists in Fermoy have, for almost two decades, fought against IFI in an effort to retain the badly damaged weir.

Costings for the long-delayed repair of the weir, complicated by IFI demands that they must be accompanied by the building of a separate fish pass to run alongside the river, came in last August at an estimated €5.5m.

Fermoy Weir is not included among the projects to receive funding.

In a press release accompanying the announcement of the €13.6m investment in Department of Housing funding, IFI said its barrier mitigation division was working to improve fish migration by identifying and addressing barriers such as weirs, culverts, sluices, bridges or dams “that obstruct natural water flow and fish movement in rivers, lakes, and streams”.

A second round of funding is planned toward the end of 2025, IFI said.