Oil on the River Bronsa in Mullingar.

Urgent action demanded on Brosna oil leak

The source of a recent oil leak into the River Brosna in Mullingar must be identified as a matter of the utmost urgency, Cllr Andrew Duncan demanded at the May meeting of Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad.

He said there was an almost identical leak a couple of years ago and it took “an age” to get it resolved. “I won’t say where it was sourced to. My concern is that we have the same issue again and, unless it is hammered, we are going to see ongoing oil leaks in Mullingar town centre, going down the Brosna and into Lough Ennell,” he warned.

He commented Pat Kavanagh, district engineer, and his team for their swift action in dealing with the latest incident.

Cllr Ken Glynn also applauded Mr Kavanagh and his team for their prompt response when the oil leak was brought to their attention on Sunday evening, and their response to representations regarding problems at the lakeshores on previous weekends.

Director of services, Deirdre Reilly, said the environment section of the council are currently trying to find the source of the oil leak. She thanked the members for their comments.