‘Embarrassing and disgraceful’ - Tipperary river overrun with rubbish, raw sewage and trolleys

The once-pristine River Suir in Thurles has been branded an “embarrassment” and a “disgrace” as furious locals demand action over its shocking state.

At the September meeting of Tipperary County Council, Thurles councillor Jim Ryan launched a blistering attack on the neglect of the river, describing it as a source of shame for the town.

"The disgraceful, embarrassing and shocking state of the River Suir in Thurles, at one stage it used to be full of swans, ducks and fish, but now it’s full of rubbish, bottles, cans, old shopping trolleys, and raw sewerage,” Cllr Ryan said.

Once a haven for wildlife and a focal point of community pride, the river is now clogged with waste and overgrown to the point of being unrecognisable.

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Cllr Ryan contrasted the sorry state of the river in Thurles with its “beautiful and magnificent” condition in Cahir.

"In some sections, the river is completely overgrown from riverbank to riverbank, I was in Cahir last week and I have to say, the same River Suir is in a beautiful and magnificent state there, particularly by the castle, and if you compare that to the absolutely embarrassing, disgraceful river in Thurles, right in the heart of the town,” he said.

The councillor demanded that the local authority take immediate steps to clean out the trash and cut back the rampant vegetation.

"At the very least, the council should clean out the rubbish, the bottles and cans, the trolleys and cut back the overgrowth, I’ve never seen the river as bad and the people of Thurles are sick of it,” he said.

According to Ryan, residents are outraged and repeatedly asking why nothing has been done.

"Every day, people are asking me ‘what is going on with the river?’ will you please go away and clean it out, cut it back and put it back to the state it was years ago, full of otters, fish, ducks, people used to love going down there and sitting by the riverbanks,” he said.

Despite the outcry, Tipperary County Council officials say their hands are tied. Eamon Lonergan from the council’s environment section admitted the problem is real, but claimed strict regulations mean they cannot simply clear the river.

"We’re well aware of the issues on the River Suir in Thurles, we have our TCC scientists working with LAWPRO (the local authority waters programme) on that, they want to create a climate action plan, we want to have a proper forum that will drive that plan and that will engage with the various stakeholders,” he said.

Lonergan stressed that pollution is flowing in from further upstream, complicating the clean-up.

"We are prevented from just going into the stream and doing certain works, we can’t just do that, but we will keep it as part of our plan of what’s going to be done in the immediate term, the short term,” he added.

The council insists it will track the source of the pollution and work with stakeholders to restore the river—but for many in Thurles, patience has already run out.

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