Repairs to historic North Cork weir likely to cost €5m

The cost of repairing a historic North Cork weir could top €5m and will have to be funded by central government, a Fine Gael general election candidate has said.

Fermoy’s 250-year-old weir, which is located in the Blackwater river at the heart of the town and ads Kent Bridge, has fallen into an increasing state of deterioration over the past two decades.

In February, An Bord Pleanála granted consent for remedial works on the listed, protected structure, and the building of a separate channel, a so-called fish by, which is to run parallel to the Blackwater’s northern bank, west of the bridge.

However, Cork County Council, which owns the weir, has said its attempts to secure funding for the works are “at the very early stage”.

Problems

Problems with the weir were first noted in 2006, when migrating salmon became trapped at the weir’s damaged fish ladder and fisheries officials demanded the removal of the weir.

A 2007 claim by the Government that the EU was demanding that the weir in Fermoy be replaced by a lower structure was challenged by the local rowing club, which feared such a change would destroy its training grounds, upstream of the weir.

In 2009, of Fermoy Rowing Club travelled to Brussels and met EU officials, who told them a simple repair of the weir would suffice, but the Government then said it could not commit State funding as its fisheries advisers said that a repair would not be “optimal”.

Stalemate 

A stalemate persisted for a decade, and a 2019 breach caused a section of the weir — situated east of the bridge — to wash away, with water levels upstream collapsing.

Five years ago, it was estimated by Cork County Council that the full cost of repairs would be in the region of €3m.

Now Fermoy-based county councillor Noel McCarthy, who is running for Fine Gael in the election, has said the cost will likely run to about €5m, adding that he was committed to securing funding from central government.

“The most important thing is that funding will be made available. Planning is secured — it’s gone through An Bord Pleanála — so the next stage now is to see can we secure funding, but I’m confident that we will,” he said.

Asked when the weir repair work would be completed, Mr McCarthy said it would be a case of “one step at a time”, with the first challenge being to secure funding.