A report examining the State’s response to the fish kill incident that occurred on the River Blackwater in August 2025 has found that agencies responded quickly and appropriately.

The independent report was carried out by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) following what was the largest recorded fish kill incident in Ireland.

It identified opportunities where co-ordination and communication could have been improved, while also acknowledging a "detection gap" exists, where a short-lived pollution event occurs and dissipates before it is detected, limiting the investigation and enforcement.

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Minister of State of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment Timmy Dooley said that a key objective of this review was to ensure that something was learned from this incident.

“Some recommendations can and are being progressed immediately, while others will require more detailed consideration and planning to ensure they are implemented in an effective and evidence-based way," he said.

Many of the recommendations made in the report will be progressed in the short term, including those aimed at strengthening how State agencies work together.

An inter-agency protocol group has been established by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to co-ordinate this work and is expected to be completed before the end of quarter one of 2026.

Long-term recommendations

The report also sets out a range of longer-term recommendations.

This includes preventative measures such as research to predict high risk locations for fish kills, in conjunction with improving catchment resilience by reducing pressures, improving habitat quality and flows and enhanced approaches to detection such as continuous real-time monitoring on major rivers.

The Department is considering the potential to develop a pilot using the Blackwater catchment, to test, assess and evaluate the implementation of these recommendations in practice before considering a wider rollout.

The report will now be considered in detail by the Department and the relevant agencies.