Dublin Corporation yesterday rejected allegations by an ad-hoc group of anglers, ecologists and local residents which criticised its "inadequate response" to last Thursday's oil spillage in Chapelizod.
The group, Friends of the Liffey, held a meeting last night at the West County Hotel, Chapelizod, chaired by Mr Tomas Mac Giolla, the former Workers' Party TD. Speakers contested claims by the corporation that the oil spillage, which resulted from a collision between an oil tanker and a truck, had caused minimal damage.
"In fact, all birds along the river were covered in oil, and those which have not been removed and treated by the DSPCA must now be presumed dead," a statement from Friends of the Liffey said.
"The total bird population at this time of year easily exceeds 200. As of August 19th, no live bird has been seen on the river . . . and numbers of dying fish are rising to the surface."
Dublin city engineer Mr Michael Phillips challenged the group's assertions, saying: "We cannot accept that, whatsoever, on the basis that we have not come across any dead birds." The DSPCA had come across 12 birds, he believed, some of which would have died. "We were able to get the swans away from the area," he added.
Mr Sean Gibney, of the DSPCA, said they had rescued eight mallards, a white duck, three geese, a swan and two moorhens. They had found seven dead mallards, three dead moorhens and a dead cygnet.
The oil, as such, was not a problem, but rather what the birds ingested: "If they're lightly affected, we just wash them and try to get them back as soon as possible."
Some birds were being looked after while the clean-up continued on the river. Some of these would be put on to the pond at Marley Park in the interim, Mr Gibney said.
A total of 127,300 kg of oil had been "tankered away" three days after the accident, according to Mr Phillips. "The bulk of the oil has been removed from the river at this stage."
The corporation had done its best in a difficult situation, he said. The collision had resulted in about 20,000 litres of oil being immediately discharged into the road gullies and into the Liffey within 20 minutes.
Accident booms had been put in place within an hour of the corporation being notified at noon. By 3.30 p.m. the road had been gritted, cleaned and washed. Over the next 24 hours eight booms had been drawn across the river and these had held the bulk of the oil.
Mr Phillips said that a complete environmental audit would be carried out in two months' time to determine the full extent of the damage.
Mr Jerome Casey, a spokesman for the ad-hoc group, said they wanted an "immediate" environmental audit of the damage to the river and the surrounding area.