Laois rivers so blocked you could walk on them, Councillor claims

Laois rivers are getting so clogged you could walk over them without wetting your feet, a councillor has claimed.

Independent Cllr Aisling Moran made the claim at a recent meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District. 

She tabled a motion asking “that this Council include the river Crompaun in the river cleaning programme for 2024, from Killeen to Killabban and beyond.”

In response, Senior Executive Engineer, Philip McVeigh, said “Laois County Council carried out river cleaning works in 2023 on the Crompaun River in Killeen, following a previous motion by the Elected Member. We will arrange to carry out further river works on the Crompaun River in 2024 with the ecological reports to be completed in advance of the next river maintenance season. 

Cllr Moran said she was delighted to hear that work would be carried out on the river. 

“The rivers are completely choked up, you could walk it without wetting your feet,” said Cllr Moran. 

She expressed a belief that changes in the law were needed regarding clearing rivers in order that work could be carried out more quickly. 

“I hope it happens sooner rather than later because everywhere is being flooded, houses and farms and the whole lot,” she said. 

Sinn Fein Cllr Aidan Mullins asked if the council would require external experts for the ecological reports. 

Mr McVeigh said the work was carried out by ecological consultants. 

He recalled Cllr Moran’s late father, John Moran, raising a similar issue at a previous meeting. 

“You are more concerned about snails and rare weeds than you are the poor people in flooding,” he recounted the late councillor had said.