Uisce Éireann has been fined €10,000 and convicted on a number of charges relating to Macroom Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The state body was prosecuted for breaches of its wastewater discharge licence at Dublin Metropolitan District Court, where they pleaded guilty to a number of allegations.

These included a breach of their emissions limits for ammonia on four separately listed occasions in January, March, April, and May 2024, and another where they failed to repair a piece of equipment by May 2024; it had stopped working at the end of January.

Judge Halpin convicted Uisce Éireann on all charges and imposed fines totalling €10,000. Agency costs were also agreed.

There were three complaints relating to Macroom Wastewater Treatment Plant in 2024, one of sewage discharge specifically, and two others of discharge into the River Sullane from the plant.

In July 2024, inspectors for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found a screen blocked, which meant that untreated wastewater was flowing into the river for approximately 13 hours.

Another visit was on foot of ‘ongoing complaints from the general public relating to noticeable plume(s) discharging…into the River Sullane’.

This report notes that the wastewater treatment plant, previously operated by Cork County Council, was ‘handed over to Glanua Ltd by Uisce Éireann in December 2023. It was stated that no documentation for planned maintenance or operational records were provided to Glanua Ltd during the handover process’.

Uisce Éireann had told Glanua that equipment needed to be replaced at the point of this handover period (December 2023) but this equipment (brushes in the inlet/fine screen) were not replaced until April 2024.

The EPA noted that in was not clear who was designated to be responsible for the replacement of this equipment.

The 2024 EPA report also noted that ‘significant amounts of sewage fungus was observed throughout the adjacent riverbed’, and ‘discharges from the Macroom Wastewater Treatment Plant have severely impacted the habitat of the River Sullane’.

Uisce Éireann were told at this point to submit emergency measures that they would implement, and that these are given ‘greater priority’.

Another site visit was carried out in February 2025, while the substantial upgrades at the plant are ongoing and expected to be finished in 2026.

€21 million was granted for the project, where the existing plant will be decommissioned and a new facility built which will serve 7,700 people.

At the same time, a €6.5 million project is under way to improve the water treatment plant, which serves over 4,000 people.

This is also expected to be completed in 2026.