People from all areas urged to join Save the Boyne protest walk

By Andy Spearman

I can vividly remember the first time I swam in the river Boyne. It was shortly after I moved to Drogheda as a teenager in 1969 and, along with a couple of friends, I rowed out under the viaduct and dived in. It was one of the most disgusting few minutes of my life! The water was absolutely filthy.

Looking back I must have been very naïve but I didn’t know that the river was the conduit for all of the sewage from Drogheda, plus all the towns upriver such as Slane, Navan and Trim, to the sea.

To borrow a quote from Brendan Behan, we weren’t swimming so much as going through the motions.

Added to that I soon found out that the Boyne regularly flowed red with the bloody mess from several abattoirs along the river or any colour in the spectrum thanks to the outlet from the dyeing shed at Ushers Mill.

At other times the river could be choked with fatty substances dumped from God knows where, probably the margarine factory.

This had been going on for many years and, needless to say the wildlife in and around the water had taken a severe beating. Within a decade or so the famous Boyne salmon were in serious decline.

Needless to say this situation was totally unsustainable and these days we have a developed a much more enlightened approach to getting rid of our waste. The river has not fully recovered but the installation of sewage treatment plants has made a huge improvement.

We’ve also realised what a wonderful asset the bilt and natural heritage of the river and the whole Boyne Valley region is both for ourselves and our guests from other parts of the world. So preserving this beauty is, or should be, top of our agenda.

*Trim Castle beside the river Boyne – our built and natural heritage are hugely important and any risks to it are of huge concern. Photo: Andy Spearman.*

So, it is understandable that when Dawn Meats received planning permission from Meath County Council for an outlet from their plant near Slane from which they plan to pump 400,000 litres of “treated” waste water into the Boyne, it was the cause of major public concern.

Hundreds lodged objections to An Bord Pleanala and a Save the Boyne Committee was formed to run a campaign to get the decision reversed and to ensure that the ecosystem gets the protection it should get under EU and National law.

Dawn Meats say that their plan includes a state of the art water treatment plant which will produce compliant water and that the site is licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), with whom they engage on an ongoing basis.

But, as the residents of the Marsh Road and Weir Hope could no doubt confirm, treatment plants are not without their problems either and there have been incidents in recent years of odours and worse escaping into either the air or the river.

Save the Boyne have organised another in their series of awareness raising protest walks, to preserve and improve the water quality of Ireland’s rivers. Called “Go with the Flow” this walk takes place on Saturday July 30^th and they are encouraging as many people as possible to join them.

“We are appealing the recent decision by Meath County Council to grant Dawn Meats Ltd permission to pump 400,000 litres of “treated” waste water, DAILY into the River Boyne, a protected National Heritage Site!” said a spokesperson.

“Feel free to join “the flow” at your own pace and ease of location (on or off the river). Alternatively, if you’re not a walker/kayaker/swimmer bring a picnic to Slane at lunch time.

See below for details