Catchment News

The Shannon IRBD is the largest in Ireland at more than 18,000 km2 in area. It stretches from the source of the River Shannon in the Cuilcagh mountains in counties Cavan and Fermanagh to the tip of the Dingle peninsula in north Kerry. As well as the natural drainage basin of the Shannon river itself, which drains an extensive area of central Ireland, it also includes coastal parts of Kerry and Clare which drain to the sea. It drains 18 local authority areas and is also an international district as a small portion of County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland drains underground to the source of the Shannon where it rises to the surface at the Shannon Pot in County Cavan.

The Shannon IRBD is a largely rural district with many protected sites that depend on water (54% of rivers have protected areas associated with them). Water is critical to the economy of the Shannon IRBD, generating and sustaining wealth though activities such as agriculture, forestry, aquaculture, power generation, industry, services, transport and tourism.

However, water is a fragile resource that needs to be protected.

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) was adopted in 2000. It requires governments to take a new approach to managing all their waters: rivers, canals, lakes, reservoirs, groundwaters, protected areas (including wetlands and other water-dependent ecosystems), estuaries (transitional) and coastal waters. Member states must ensure that their waters achieve at least good status, generally by 2027 at the latest, and that status doesn’t deteriorate in any waters. To achieve good status and preserve the best waters, it is necessary to prepare and implement management plans for those waters.

This plan is for the Shannon IRBD. It covers the period 2009–2015 and has been prepared in consultation with all stakeholders. It sets out the measures to be taken by all stakeholders and the tools to prioritise the application of available resources to those measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of the directive.