As Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) continues to investigate the serious fish kill of about 46,000 animals on the River Blackwater on August 11th, much online rhetoric has been focused on agriculture industry in the area.

Despite rumours, the EPA say there is ‘no causal link’ between Kanturk-based North Cork Creameries and the fish kill; the creamery itself has ‘adamantly and firmly restated’ that they are not responsible, and urged that it was essential that accountability for the ecological harm was ‘based on evidence, not assumption’.

That said, the creamery has had a number of complaints made against it to the Environmental Protection Agency in recent months, as well as investigations into non-compliance and incidents in July and June, and other reports predating these.

Closer to home, Carbery Ltd in Ballineen has not had any complaints made against it since at least 2017, when records begin on the EPA’s online licensing portal, which is accessible to the public. Carbery’s industrial emissions licence was granted in 2012.

The most recent return, July’s monthly report to the EPA, was largely unproblematic with one incidence of ‘non-compliance’ where temperature exceedances from July 11th to 13th were attributed to adverse weather, an incident that had a ‘minor impact’.

Otherwise, all of the monthly reports to the EPA in 2025 were ‘compliant’ and in line with Carbery’s licence terms; in June there was a reported minor emission exceedance.

There were also no complaints to the company received in 2024, according to the company’s Annual Environmental Report, nor in 2023, 2022, or 2021.

There was one complaint in 2020, concerning an odour associated with land spreading of wastewater treatment sludge.

The spreading was stopped at the time, and subsequently an odour control system was installed.

In January 2025, an EPA visit found some issues with a bulk container which was not adequately stored; this was addressed by Carbery with photographic evidence supplied to the EPA.