Recent weeks have seen the first signs of progress on the matter of dealing with the scandalous leak of raw sewage into a public park, just outside of famous West Cork tourism hotspot, Clonakilty.

For nearly a quarter of a century, a failing communal septic tank has been discharging multiple gallons of raw human sewage daily into Shannonvale’s village green. The park, now out of bounds due to the severity of the pollution, serves as the only public space in a village which is home to over 100 households. Residents have been highlighting the issue with both elected representatives and local authority engineers and planners for well over twenty years, but have received little success until recently.

It seems now, however, that following a large public meeting in June 2020 and a concerted media push, that there may finally be some light at the end of what has been a very long tunnel for the people of Shannonvale.

Public Attention

West Cork TDs Holly Cairns (Social Democrats) and Christopher O’Sullivan (Fianna Fáil), both known for their interest in environmental matters, have both recently raised the issue in the Dáil Chamber, with Deputy O’Sullivan putting a question to an Tánaiste Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael) on the matter on the 16th of July and Deputy Cairns raised the matter further with Minister of State with Responsibility for Local Government & Planning Peter Burke (Fine Gael) on 21st of July.

Further to this, the Southern Star has, once again helped to raise awareness of the issue, by publishing another article in July entitled “Two decades on, Shannonvale poo still seeps from septic tank” & local resident and action group member, John Allman, has spoken to PJ Coogan on Cork’s 96fm.

It appears that public pressure has certainly had an effect, with the problematic septic tank and soakaway area finally seeing some attention from authorities. Since the community started to press the issue in the media, back in June, we have seen contractors on-site with pumping equipment on at least four separate occasions, attempting to de-sludge the tanks and bring down the levels of liquid within the percolation tanks, to at least keep it below ground level. To see 4 attempts in the space of a month is a dramatic change from the twice-yearly efforts in the past. Unfortunately, these attempts have been fruitless, with the tank already overflowing within days of any pumping, and torrential rains in recent days exacerbating the problem further.

Methods Raise Doubts

This reason alone has given locals reason to doubt the seriousness with which the matter is being treated, since the pumping solution has been offered up on a number of occasions in the past by the tank’s former stewards, Cork County Council (on whose property the soakaway is currently situated). Further to this, Irish Water have failed to offer any information directly to the community, despite claims to the contrary. The only communication of any plans for the site have come via West Cork Councillor Paul Hayes (Independent) who managed to get the following statement on the 24th of July:

“Irish Water is currently reviewing a site assessment report and site options report for Shannonvale Wastewater Treatment Plant to inform its priority status for funding under future Capital Investment Plans as it hasn’t been allocated funding this year. A requirement for remediation works has also been identified to take place before any infrastructural upgrade project at Shannonvale.

The remediation works require assessment and Irish Water is now finalising a scope for this. Depending on available funding, remediation works will follow on from this assessment. There is a planned desludging programme in place for the two tanks in Shannonvale to manage operation of the plant in the interim. The last desludging was in early March 2020 and with another taking place earlier this month. We hope to engage with the local community over the coming days to inform them of the actions being taken.”

Irish Water Local Representative Support Desk – Fri 24 Jul 2020

The local action group have since been in contact with Irish Water regarding the above statement, with the following:

“While we appreciate that any works required to rectify the issues highlighted will be a significant undertaking from both a fiscal and logistical point of view, local residents are still very frustrated. This sense of frustration stems from the fact that assurances have been made and reneged upon by the local authority on numerous occasions in the past, due to to budgetary issues, according to officials. Many fear that such a situation will arise again, and that we will ultimately end up with the same outcome as previously.

To help ease fears, and show to our community that Irish Water are taking the matter seriously, I would invite you to forward any and all updates regarding the project to us here at this email address (park@shannonvale.ie) so that we can publish and distribute these updates locally. Public trust in the local authority was damaged over the years due to the constant disappointments, and has unfortunately led to a rather antagonistic relationship between the local community and our County Council. We hope to be able to rectify that situation in terms of our engagement with Irish Water, and would like to be able to work in as collaborative a relationship as possible.

To begin with, we would like to be able to provide the public with details of the desludging programme (scheduled dates going forward, duration of the contract offered to the contractor carrying out the works, contact details for reporting purposes should schedule not be met). We would also appreciate being kept abreast of any findings from your site assessment and reports (even raw engineering reports and survey data would be appreciated as our membership includes a number of civil engineers who will be capable of interpreting this data).

We hope that these proposals are agreeable to you, and look forward to working with you to resolve the issues affecting our village.”

Shannonvale Park Action Group – Fri 7 Aug 2020

At the time of posting (20th of August 2020), Irish Water have written to acknowledge receipt of our email, but have not offered a response to our proposals.

We, as a community, can appreciate the scale of the problems that Irish Water has inherited in West Cork, from the local authorities, and understand that this will be a gradual process, but we are asking that they act in a transparent manner. Keeping the public regularly updated on any and all decisions relating to Shannonvale is of great importance to the community, since past experiences have shown that this outrageous environmental and public health threat in the village has not been treated with anywhere near the degree of diligence necessary.

As per the email quoted above, any queries or offers of support from elected representatives, media organisations, public bodies or private organisations and individuals, may be sent to the action group at park@shannonvale.ie