The EPA has granted a revised licence to Carhue Piggeries Limited in Timoleague, to allow the facility to increase its capacity to 1,750 sow and 9,290 production pigs. The granting of the licence comes off the back of years of EPA visits dating back to June 2021 that found that the piggery was operating outside of the licensed site boundary.

This was repeatedly noted at multiple visits made by the EPA between June 2021 and February 2024, despite the EPA saying that they had issued via a warning letter dated in January 2021 to the operator, ‘to cease and desist from operating outside the licensed site boundary’.

Also in 2021 it was noted by the EPA that although the piggery was being operated by Carhue Piggeries Ltd, a Licence Transfer Application had not been yet completed from the previous operator.

Other historical matters were an oil spill in June 2021 where the EPA had not been informed, and an uncovered animal carcass skip that was ‘near full’ with animal carcass waste.

A visit in February 2022 found 937 farrowing sows versus a licence limit of 220, although the numbers of all other animals including boards and gilts was within the licence limits.

More pig carcasses in an uncovered skip were observed on this visit in February 2022.

An application was made to the EPA in November 2023 proposing an increase in pig numbers, and other infrastructure. The operator was later prosecuted in January 2024 and fined €3,000 for the previous years’ actions.

Planning permission was granted by Cork County Council in March 2025 for a revised use of the facility’s buildings, and the revised licence has now been granted.

A letter from Inland Fisheries Ireland dated December 2023 noted that the application ‘is effectively seeking a licence for intensification of an existng facility, which is in close proximity to the Argideen Estuary, an at risk waterbody.’

‘In this context it is difficult to see how the grantng of a licence to the current application could be viewed as sustainable development or in keeping with the requirements of the Water Framework’.

The EPA addressed this objection by saying ‘most [of the] pig slurry’ will be transferred to a nearby anaerobic digestion plant, and such actions will be managed by Cork County Council and the Department of Agriculture.

Furthermore the EPA said there was no risk to sites including the Courtmacsherry Estuary, Clonakilty Bay, and the Old Head of Kinsale, if the terms of the licence were adhered to.