Report launch in Kilcormac could be dawn of new era for Silver River

MANY people came together in Kilcormac Community Centre last Thursday evening to express their love of the Silver River and to launch a fascinating Feasibility Study about it.
The Feasibility Study was launched by the Silver River Angling Club. Brendan Bennett of the Club told the gathering that the club wanted to extend a special thank you to Offaly Local Development Company, LAWPRO (the Local Authority Waters Programme), Kilcormac Development Association, Mary McIntyre, Salters Sterling, Michael Hanna, local farmers, Agnes Gorman from Kilcormac Historical Society, club members, Professor John Feehan who launched the report, Cormac Nolan (who performed during the launch a lovely self-penned song about the Silver River), and “particularly Rory Dalton, Ecologist, who researched and wrote this fine report.” Brendan added that copies of the report will be available in the KDA and the local Library and from members of the club on request.
Linda Kelly, Project Manager with Kilcormac Development Association, spoke of the mills that were once in operation along the river and about the current plan to create looped walks in the area.
Caitriona Duggan of OLDC said her company provides funding up to €200,000 for projects. “The OLDC has provided funding for the walking tracks in the Faithful Fields, for Kilcormac Playground, the creation of a Community Plan for the area, and has encouraged people to invest in rainwater harvesting programmes. We oversee the Rural Social Scheme which looks after the Offaly Way on the Silver River and we support Offaly Healthy Homes which runs Meals on Wheels.
Brendan Bennett said the Silver River Angling Club started in 2017. “We have 25 members, including 18 adult men, two adult women and five children. We are keen to have more women and children members.
“Over the years we have been fortunate to be awarded a number of grants. This year we received a grant for putting boulders and gravel in place along the Silver River between Ballyboy and Kilcormac, to assist with spawning.” He praised Rory Dalton for doing “a great job. Rory received a lot of help from farmers and the local community. We want to say thank you to the farmers for allowing Rory access to the river to work on the feasibility study.”
Brendan sang the praises of fishing. “It is great for the mind. I love it. I have been fishing on the Silver River for many years, since I was nine years of age. I would like to see more young people joining our club and getting out fishing. I want to thank as well the KDA who have been excellent. KDA was very supportive of us when we were a young club.”
John Feehan said the river he is most familiar with is the Camcor. He spoke with great affection about the Camcor. He pointed out that when he was a child growing up in Birr in the vicinity of this river, “the river teemed with fish. Walking home from school in September, if the river was in flood we would stop and stand for ages at the bridge beside the church in Birr to watch the croneen leaping the weir on their upstream journey to spawn in Slieve Bloom. I have the clearest early memory of old Dinny Mac, the coachbuilder, who lived on the far side of the river from us in the gate lodge of Elmgrove House. He only fished when the river was in flood, at the same spot every time, just upstream of where he lived. And the focus of that clear memory is of the fine line of fish on the grass beside him every time. But that is all in the past. We still live a stone's throw from the river, and I didn't see a single angler along the banks last year, with the result that the path is now so overgrown you can hardly walk it. And I know that some of you are old enough, - and you don't need to be that old – to echo those Camcor memories of mine with your memories of your different Silver River.”
John pointed out that the causes for this unfortunate and sad change in the Camcor and Silver Rivers are beyond the local communities' direct control, and they are relying on the strict regulation of the Water Framework Directive to restore the river. However, “there is still so much we can do to prepare our own stretch of river, and the report we are launching this evening is nothing short of inspirational in the way it brings together such a range of options in that regard. And I have little doubt that the same vision and enthusiasm that enabled the preparation of the report will be matched by the implementation of key recommendations in the report.”
John added that because it's very likely that these recommendations will be implemented, it's therefore very likely that the fish numbers will significantly increase in the Silver River. He said the report is most probably the dawn of a brighter future for the river.
The study reveals that a total of six fish species were recorded in the Silver River by Inland Fisheries Ireland in surveys carried out in 2008 and 2011 at Lumcloon Bridge. Brown trout was the most abundant species, followed by minnow, gudgeon, stone loach, three-spined stickleback and salmon.
The study also pointed out that the Offaly Way currently “receives only light use, but there is potential to improve it significantly.”
The study adds that the river was part of the Brosna River Arterial Drainage Scheme. This was the first scheme under the new 1945 Arterial Drainage Act, and the damage along a significant stretch of the river was "colossal". The most powerful machinery of the time, in combination with drilling and dynamite, were used to carry out the work on the river. The channel was straightened and excavated down four metres in places. The natural undulations in river width and bank height which contribute to variation in instream habitats were removed in favour of parallel evenly sloped banks more akin to a large drain than a natural watercourse. In other words, it was an act of ecological vandalism, with no feeling at all for a sensitive natural habitat.