Unsightly vegetation in Mohill river again raised at Council

Cllr Sean McGowan asked the Council to put in place a programme of works to remove the “unsightly heavy growth of vegetation in the bed of the river at Lower Main Street, Mohill and to consider what steps can be taken to prevent this growth reoccurring on an annual basis” at the latest meeting of Carrick-on-Shannon municipal district.
Cllr McGowan asked, “Could we dig out some of the bottom of it? We have public realm works scheduled to start so we could do something with the river while works are going on,” he suggested.
He was advised that the council currently have a local authority budget to clean the existing OPW defined drainage network.
“This funding was spent on the river at Lower Main Street last year and we will, continue to carry out these works on a rota that allows the other OPW schemes to be cleaned.
The response continued, “It is anticipated that the Rinn catchment will be on next year's programme subject to a similar funding allocation.
“I met with the Mohill Team (Tidy Towns) and explained that the environment section can assist them regarding Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) and funding streams.
Cllr Thomas Mulligan supported the motion saying that funding should be ring-fenced to carry out works at the river.
He has brought up this issue at Council level on a number of occasions.
Cllr Des Guckian said he believed the “old Mohill dump” was partly responsible for the issue and said an effort must be made “to solve the basic problem which is the dump itself.”
Mr O'Boyle said he visited Mohill recently and met with the locals who raised the issue with him and told them there is a Local Authority Waters Programme that is available and the council's Environment team who can advise them on available grants.
He said the council received funding to maintain the Rinn River (along with the Headford and Eslin) through the Office of Public Works (OPW) defined drainage schemes and that the river section referred to was cleaned last year.
“We can't dredge that section as it's an environmental issue and our hands are tied,” he said.
He added the urban renewal works commencing in Mohill “should remove any nutrients coming from the public sewer network as there is cross contamination there.”