North Cork Creameries ordered to pay out more than €10k over milk spill into river

THE Kanturk based North Cork Creameries Co- Op has been ordered to shell out more than €10,000 by a district court judge following an accidental milk discharge from its plant into a nearby river last year.

The co-op received the benefit of the probation act after pleading guilty to two charges under fisheries and local government legislation at a recent sitting of Mallow District Court.

The charges arose following an investigation undertaken by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) relating to the pollution incident at the River Allow in August 2018.

The court was told the pollution was the result of a milk spillage that occurred as a tanker was being loaded at the company’s production facility in Kanturk, which was subsequently discharged into the river.

Judge Brian Sheridan applied the Probation Act after hearing evidence that North Cork Creameries had made what was described as a significant investment to upgrade its Kanturk facilities in recent years. The judge was also told that a conviction would have a detrimental effect on the company’s well-being.

In applying the probation act the court awarded €2,654 for costs and expenses to Inland Fisheries Ireland and ordered that North Cork Creameries make a payment of €7,500 to the local angling club.

In a statement Inland Fisheries Ireland pointed out that in 2012 North Cork Creameries had been successful prosecuted by them in the Circuit Criminal Court for what were described as “similar offences.”

Last year the co-op also received the benefit of the Probation Act following a prosecution by Cork County Council under the Local Government ( Water Pollution) Act.

Commenting on the most recent case, IFI senior fisheries environmental officer Andrew Gillespie said the protection of fish stocks was “vital to maintaining an extremely valuable natural resource for the benefit of local and tourist anglers alike.”

“The River Allow and its tributaries are a prized recreational angling resource with much of the catchment soon to benefit from the locally-managed and government-funded ‘Duhallow Farming for Blue Dot Catchments’ project,” said Mr Gillespie.

“The project aims to improve the river water quality and biodiversity via the implementation of beneficial measures by farmers and landowners,” he added.

Mr Gillespie said that members of the public can report instances of illegal fishing, water pollution of invasive species by calling Inland Fisheries Ireland’s confidential hotline number on 1890 34 74 24 or 1890 FISH 24.