Offaly anglers group receive grants for local waters and biodiversity

The rivers, lakes and water bodies of County Offaly are renowned places of natural beauty. They are popular with locals and visitors alike as destinations for water-based recreational activities i.e., Lough Boora, Mid Ireland adventures, etc., especially during summer months. However, water quality in some areas is not as good as it should be. The latest reports from the Environment Protection Agency show that around half (47%) of the rivers and lakes in Ireland do not have good water quality.

Issues affecting water quality in Offaly’s rivers and lakes are well documented, with a lot of work underway through the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO), Offaly County Council and relevant agencies to address pollution and other known problems. For the next five years, this work will be guided by Ireland’s River Basin Management Plan.

Each year, communities and local champions play a vital role in the protection and enhancement of local waterbodies. The Community Water Development Fund supports this effort and in 2023, over €520,000 in grant aid has been awarded to groups nationwide, with just shy of €18,000 going to communities in County Offaly.

Commenting on the fund, Anthony Coleman, Director of LAWPRO said, “The standard of applications was very high this year and we were delighted to see the scale of ambition and enthusiasm from local activists throughout the country. Congratulations to those great projects who have been awarded a grant and to those who were not successful this time, I would encourage you to maintain contact with your local Community Water Officer, to keep developing new proposals and projects, and to apply when the next round of funding is available.”

Minister of State for Planning and Local Government, Kieran O’Donnell, TD, said: “I welcome the collaborative approach led by the Department, the Local Authority Waters Programme, and all 31 local authorities with relevant State agencies, other stakeholders and local communities with the shared goal of meeting the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive to have all natural waters at a good standard by 2027. This year we’ve seen Tidy Towns Committees, Community Groups, Scouts and GAA clubs awarded funding through this scheme to make improvements to their local waters and it’s heartening to see such strong representation from throughout all of our local authorities.”

Types of projects approved for funding include:

River and habitat enhancement works such as planting of native species and hedgerow, pollinator friendly planting, river-bank stabilisation, fencing and riparian buffer zones.
Preparation of local plans, such as feasibility studies, habitat management plans, ecological surveys, and biodiversity action plans.
Awareness raising initiatives such as riverside litter picks, biodiversity information boards, citizen science workshops, outdoor classrooms, rainwater harvesting, and enhancement of wetlands.
Citizen Science initiatives.

Silver Anglers, a long-established Angling group of concerned fishers passionate about their environment especially around their local silver river in the Kilcormac area have received funding from this year’s Community Water Development fund. They have a longstanding appreciation of their local river’s water quality and heritage. They have brilliantly sought and have approved funding from other resources for ecological assessments of their local water body. They have been allocated funding just shy of €5000 from LAWPRO to promote the biodiversity and history of the silver river at Kilcormac, Co. Offaly with the assembling of three signs in the villages of Cadamstown, Ballyboy and Kilcormac along the Offaly way that celebrates the river and its biodiversity. The signs will also be a QR code that links to the local river heritage.

In acknowledgement of the vital and multi-faceted role communities have as custodians of their own rivers and streams, joint community water officer with Basil Mannion for Counties, Offaly, Laois & Westmeath, Cathal Flood said “Communities are vital to the improvement and protection of our local water bodies. Our ability to fund projects like that of the Silver Anglers is only one of several ways LAWPRO can provide support to groups on the ground who want to protect their local environment. If you take the silver angling group, their involvement in water related matters locally is a real representation of the importance of local knowledge. Community groups like them have a role to play in the protection of our most precious natural resource, but need to be supported and collaborated with effectively to see more projects that help address our environmental challenges in terms of water quality, biodiversity loss and climate change. Their ongoing pursuits to take care and raise awareness of their own local water body can form an example for future groups to learn from and see such projects thrive in County Offaly”

This year, an additional €20,000 was awarded as part of the Blue Dot Programme. The Blue Dot Award for 2023 was shared between two groups; IRD Duhallow in County Cork and Camross Tidy towns group in Co. Laois. Blue Dots are catchments which are mostly unpolluted and are our best quality waters. Ireland has seen a long-term trend of decline in the number of these high status (Q5 and Q4-5) river sites in recent decades. Of monitored sites, 19% had high status in the 2017-2019 EPA assessment period compared to 31.6% in 1987-1990 (EPA, 2019). Unfortunately, today this decline has affected Offaly too with 2 Blue Dot sites remaining in the county. There were 13 in 2000. The blue dots programme aims to support existing blue dots to maintain and improve high water status and bring blue dot sites back.

For more information on all grants awarded in 2023 visit www.lawaters.ie and for information and advice relating to enhancing local water bodies in County Offaly contact Cathal Flood, Community Water Officer at cflood@lawaters.ie or via mobile on 085 8541258 or check out my water related work on twitter https://twitter.com/maoltuile.

For the latest on water quality, science, and stories of community activities visit www.catchments.ie