A PROSECUTION over an alleged fish kill in the Bandon River has been withdrawn by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) after it emerged a board member did not have the authority to issue summons for pollution prosecutions.
This was one of 55 prosecutions being withdrawn by IFI, including a case against West Cork Distillers in the Ilen River.
At Bandon District Court last week, solicitor Vincent Coakley, representing IFI, told Judge Mary Dorgan they were applying to withdraw the prosecution against Wills Bros Ltd of Foxford, Co Mayo, arising from a incident on May 10th 2017 where 200 fish were killed in the Bandon River. Wills Bros was working on Bandon’s flood relief scheme, and was convicted in 2022 of injuring or disturbing the spawn or fry of salmon, trout, or eels. Wills Bros was instructed to pay €10,000 to IFI to repair river beds. The case was adjourned to last week for finalisation.
Mr Coakley said that the money will return to Wills Bros Ltd. ‘It was a system error, and when the IFI board became aware of this issue last year, I had to withdraw numerous prosecutions. Some cases of a certain vintage have to be withdrawn because the power wasn’t delegated to the board member,’ said Mr Coakley. Judge Dorgan made an order for costs against the prosecution, to be agreed between all parties.
