Fears Liffey oil spill could be more serious

A Dublin environmental group has reacted strongly to what it has described as the "inadequate response by the authorities" to last week’s oil spillage into the River Liffey.

The Friends of the Liffey are calling on Dublin Corporation to commission an audit of the true extent of effects of the spill on the river and its wildlife, and to draw up plans to rectify the damage.

The group, a collection of ecologists, anglers and concerned residents, described the incident as "the greatest ecological disaster to hit the Liffey in decades". They said the Corporation had failed to act quickly enough, threatening the whole ecology of the area.

Due to the clean-up process, "the Liffey is in good order where it enters the city at the quays and beyond, which may be good for tourism, but it is of little comfort upstream", the group said in a statement.

Dublin Corporation said only a small number of birds were killed, and are conducting environmental impact surveys. An ecologist has also been brought in by Esso, the company whose tanker was carrying the oil.

Mr Jerome Casey, a spokesman for the Friends of the Liffey, told ireland.comthey were not convinced by the Corporation's claims that the damage was minimal.

"There is quite a degree of concern among people", he said.

"The problem is that diesel is a killer of wildlife, and it is persistent.

"We have fears it will sterilize the environment for the future," Mr Casey said. "The food supplies of the fish and the birds for the whole winter may be affected, we just don’t know yet."

The Friends of the Liffey are holding a public meeting tonight in the West County Hotel in Chapelizod, where they hope to petition local public representatives to push Dublin Corporation on the issue.

Last Thursday, 20,000-litres of light fuel oil leaked through drains into the river following a collision between an oil-tanker and a lorry on the N4 near Palmerstown.

The slick stretched from Chapelizod bridge as far as Islandbridge, a distance of around a mile.

Swans and ducks were removed downstream from the spillage and four booms were laid across the river at Islandbridge in an effort to stem the flow of oil.