In July, North Cork Creameries, a farmer-owned co-operative based in Kanturk, unveiled a glowing set of financial accounts. Revenues were up 20 per cent to €211.8 million and profits soared by 48 per cent, fuelled by the processing of 238 million litres of milk into products exported worldwide, including milk powder, caseins (dairy protein) and butter – they’re a “leading supplier” of butter to Kerrygold, and produce ÓR Real Irish Butter. Yet, just weeks after the figures were published, the firm faced renewed scrutiny about its environmental compliance record.
In August, as investigators probed a fish die-off in the Blackwater river, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a troubling set of results. Water samples taken near the discharge pipe owned by the creamery, which feeds into the river Allow – a few kilometres from where the Allow flows into the Blackwater – revealed ammonia levels that vastly exceeded statutory limits. North Cork Creameries responded swiftly and emphatically, saying it was “entirely impossible” that it was responsible for the mortality event. The EPA later stated there was no causal link between the creamery’s discharges and the ecological damage in the Blackwater.
But these results shine a spotlight on the creamery’s broader licensing record. The stakes extend beyond technical compliance; significant public interest is at play. The river Allow lies within the Blackwater Special Area of Conservation, a legally protected area of European significance that sustains endangered freshwater pearl mussels, Atlantic salmon, ancient oak woodlands and alluvial forests. The waters are a human lifeline, providing thousands of people with recreation, drinking water and essential wastewater services. For proponents of the Rights of Nature, the river’s significance runs deeper: it’s a living entity of interdependent species with inherent worth, whose existence demands protection.
Public records reveal just some filings about the plant’s operations, and paint a disquieting and problematic portrait of how regulators are performing. They raise doubts about whether the authorities can enforce the obligations of licensed operators in order to safeguard the public interest.
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July 2012 – Inland Fisheries Ireland takes the creamery to court for a deleterious milk discharge to the Allow. The court convicts the creamery and orders them to pay a €3,500 fine.
April 2015 – Cork County Council’s officials discover “serious unauthorised discharge” from a broken pipe that, according to records, “appeared to have been broken some time”. Between 2014 and 2017, the council issues warning letters for discharges “non-compliant with licence”.
April 2016 – County Council and Inland Fisheries Ireland inspectors report finding pools of untreated effluent along the banks of the Allow. The river bank is described as “extremely polluted with effluent fungus”. The council ask the creamery to “carry out clean up works”.
April 2018 – Cork County Council brings water pollution charges against the creamery before Mallow District Court. The creamery enters a guilty plea, the judge applies the Probation Act and tells the company to give €5,000 to the local angling club.
[ Environmental Protection Agency enforcement report names firms of concernOpens in new window ]
September 2019 – North Cork Creameries pleads guilty in a case taken by Inland Fisheries Ireland, after hundreds of litres of skimmed milk flowed into the river Allow. Inspectors observed that fish activity was markedly higher in stretches of the Allow that remained clear, suggesting the fish had fled the polluted zone. They also document “sewage fungus” on the riverbed. The judge does not convict but gives the Probation Act and tells the company to give €7,500 to the local angling club.
March 2022 – The EPA puts North Cork Creameries on its “national priority sites” list for 2021, which is for the poorest-performing industrial operations. This marks the creamery as one of Ireland’s most problematic EPA-licensed sites.
November 2024 – The EPA says the creamery will face “targeted enforcement action” after being named on the “national priority sites” list for most of 2022, all of 2023 and 2024.
April 2025 – North Cork Creameries pleads guilty to eight charges of breaching its licence in an EPA case, including exceeding ammonia and nitrogen levels in discharge into the Allow. It is convicted and the judge imposes an €11,000 fine. The EPA said that the creamery would remain on the National Priority Sites list going into 2025; by the start of 2025, the EPA removes the creamery from the list.
August 2025 – Three EPA inspectors visit the creamery and take samples at the point where the facility’s discharge pipe enters the river Allow. One sample reveals ammonia 52 times above the legal limit, which is the highest figure recorded within the EPA’s published noncompliance notices. Excess ammonia is lethal to fish.
In its financial report for 2024, North Cork Creameries – a member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green – said it operates to the “highest standards” of environmental sustainability, noting that in the recent years it has invested over €2 million in the “effectiveness and efficiency of our environmental management systems.” The firm employs 126 people and buys milk from local farmers.
We place our trust in publicly funded watchdogs to police licences that allow companies to discharge into rivers. These permits confer benefits; releasing into a river is financially cheaper than disposing off-site. While it’s reasonable and prudent for regulators to initially take a collaborative approach – working with polluters to correct deficiencies – at what point does a licence become a liability that must be suspended or revoked to protect public and ecological interests?
Since March 2020, the EPA has issued North Cork Creameries with 125 noncompliance notices, bearing the warning that: “You are reminded that failure to comply with any condition attached to a licence or revised licence is an offence.” It begs the question: what on earth is the point of the EPA licensing regime if companies – in broad daylight, visible to us all – repeatedly breach the rules meant to protect our fragile rivers?
