The summer foliage is dying back, unveiling more of the uncollected rubbish along the banks and in the River Suir in central Thurles. Bottles, cans, flower pots and other litter remain, while fallen trees and uncontrolled shrubbery continue to obstruct the river, as the stench persists.
After more than 13 year, the problems remain unresolved. Certainly over the past six weeks, despite my contact with the Environmental Protection Agency and Tipperary County Council, there have been no meaningful progress on the continuing litter, obstructions and overall pollution. The installation of litter bins also still remains unaddressed.
Dear Mr Willoughby,
Further to previous correspondence and responding to your concerns, the EPA wrote to Tipperary County Council seeking a written response from them on actions taken or planned on this matter.
The Council responded to the EPA on 15/09/2026. However, the response did not provide sufficient information.
The EPA has therefore requested further information from the Council.
We will provide you with an update in three weeks.
In the interim, we recommend you continue to report any further issues relating to this matter to the Council.
Please use the reference number above in any further communication with the EPA regarding this matter.
Trusting this is of assistance to you.
Kind regards,
Signed:Ms Shelly Laffan
(Complaints Unit | Office of Environmental Enforcement)
(Aonad Gearán na hOifige Forfheidhmithe i leith cúrsaí Comhshaoil)
Now, a response to my initial complaint from Ms Shelly Laffan, of the EPA’s Complaints Unit, Office of Environmental Enforcement, raises further questions about the Council’s handling of this matter.
The EPA confirms that it sought a written response (See above) from Tipperary County Council on actions taken or planned. The Council replied on September 15th 2026, but the EPA states: “However, the response did not provide sufficient information.”
The EPA has now requested further information and says it will update me in three weeks. In the meantime, it advises me to continue reporting further issues to the Council and to use my complaint reference [Ref: COM021813], in future correspondence with the EPA.
Thurles residents deserve to know what action if any is being actually taken, and when visible work will begin.
The Stench Continues. Where Is the Public Accountability?
The accompanying video hereunder records what appears to be effluent entering the river. It also shows a flat flagstone positioned over one pipe outlet, raising questions about whether the discharge is being obscured. Who placed it there, and why, requires investigation. The discharge itself needs to be identified and its source established.
I have also received reports of fish found floating near ‘The Willows’ housing estate in the recent past. The account relayed to me attributes this to an accidental chemical spill washed into the Suir through a connected surface-water drainage pipe. That explanation remains unconfirmed. The relevant authorities should establish what happened and publish their findings, including any available sampling results.
These concerns have a history. Local reporting in May described dumped shopping trolleys, plastic debris and suspected effluent along this same town-centre river.
Despite a political promotional video, 13 years too late, same highlighting the river’s condition, no subsequent update has come from same hand holding politicians, with the sole exception of local councillor Mr Jim Ryan who has taken up the cause. His communication on local radio over past months is acknowledged. Others,, if any, who have publicly expressed concern should explain what further follow-up they have undertaken.
Tipperary County Council should also now publish a dated programme for litter removal, for required bin provisions and assessment of the fallen-tree obstructions. The relevant authorities must investigate the discharges, explain their findings and identify who is responsible for each next step.
Every further week of delay leaves the rubbish, the smell and the unanswered questions with the people of Thurles.
A copy of today’s updated report has been forwarded to all those responsible for this crime of neglect.
The River Suir deserves urgent care, sustained maintenance and public accountability. When will that work become visible?
Fantastic work as always George on focussing on this issue. Your tenaciousness is incredible.
I was caught on traffic on Barry’s Bridge yesterday, so I was examining the state of it and I wondered is it possible that another town in the whole country has to put up with that?
And it used to be beautiful, in the early 90’s in particular, with the fountain, lovely ornaments along the riverbank by the old carpark and the not a big river weed in site. Alas, the only way this will be solved now is through guerilla action. 30 people breaking the law by cutting everything down and out, cleaning the whole stretch up, and having someone to cart it away. This is what happened in London recently when such a group led by barrister and activist, Paul Powlesland, cleaned up a neglected section of Regent’s Canal after the authorities failed to act.
Would be a job for a summer with a good stretch in the day and a weekend so the Council couldn’t intervene. I doubt the Guards would care. If you were waiting for the powers that be to tackle this instead of hiding by ecological concerns that smack of BS etc. it will never be solved.
Sir, Thank you for your support.
In relation to your excellent suggestion, regarding volunteer action; a recent similar discussion with a senior official with Thurles Municipal District Council informed me that such an effort would guarantee my prosecution. Regrettable, local press as with much of what they report, choose to remain deaf, depending solely on unsupported and untrue PR reports/press releases.
Not at all George. It’s my pleasure. That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. That would absolutely be par for the course for the Council. They’d probably want you in prison just to send the message out to the rest of the country that a council’s business is a council’s to perform. It’s a poor reflection on all the growth and national economic progress since the early 90s that Thurles looks a lot worse in many respects with the diabolical state of the Suir, derelict buildings, the demise of Semple Stadium, the Disneydification of St. Patrick’s Cemetery, graffiti to be seen around etc. The Square and certain roads look much better but after that you’d struggle to see how things have improved overall.