Former Limerick senior hurling manager reported to gardai amid council protest

LIMERICK City and County Council officials have reported former county hurling manager Tom Ryan to the gardai, after he blocked a waterway from entering his land amid a long-running dispute with the local authority.

Solicitors for the council have, in a letter to the dairy farmer, stated that his action is “unlawful” and is a “criminal offence”.

And they have also confirmed the council will seek High Court orders to stop his action if it continues.

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Mr Ryan, based in Ballynoe, Mungret, has been in dispute with the council about what he describes as “pollution and severe flooding” emanating from Raheen Industrial Estate.

He has said when the business park was founded, council created a canal on Loughmore Common to take surplus water off the industrial estate, which he says is “contaminating” his land and harming his livestock.

Below: Tom Ryan's land in Mungret (Picture: Adrian Butler)

Mr Ryan - who managed the Limerick’s senior hurlers to two Munster titles in the 1990s - has appealed against many of the council’s decisions to approve changes or expansions to factories in the industrial estate which adjoin his land. For its part, the council has previously provided information on the testing regime it has carried out in the canal, pointing out that these have not recorded any exceedance of ammonia, or hydrocarbons.

“Any recorded exceedances in 2022 were inconsistent and did not indicate any pattern of relate to any samples within the business park,” the council wrote in a statement provided to RTE Prime Time, which in 2022 carried out an investigation into M Ryan’s claims.

This Monday, Mr Ryan said council staff attended the perimeter of his farmland, where he had set up the blockade.

He claimed they spent around one hour beside his land dismantling the materials which were put in place to block the flow of the Loughmore Canal.

However, Mr Ryan has since declared that he will continue his action, and is planning to again set up the barricade which will stop the Loughmore Canal from flowing onto his farm.

“It will be blocked again. I’ll keep doing this, and we’ll keep meeting. It’s war,” Mr Ryan told the Limerick Leader this Monday.

He also said he will be blocking another part of his land, where water flows in from neighbouring sites.

The letter issued from the council’s solicitors last Friday, advising the farmer had been reported to the gardai, was sent in response to an email Mr Ryan had imparted to Vincent Murray, the council’s director of planning and placemaking, warning of the action.

“Tom Ryan is taking no more pollution. This is not an idle threat,” he wrote. “I am sending your pollution back”.

Having initially said they could not comment on Mr Ryan’s actions, a spokesperson for Limerick City and County Council did release a statement this Tuesday.

In it, they wrote: “The landowner has been made aware that the obstruction of these watercourses has legal implications.

These blockages may significantly increase the risk of flooding to neighbouring lands and properties located upstream.

Limerick City and County Council is committed to exercising its statutory powers to ensure that any interference with watercourses does not negatively impact other landowners or properties.”

The Raheen Industrial Estate, which is owned by IDA Ireland, houses a large number of multi-national firms, which employ thousands of workers.

As well as appealing against many of these expansions, Mr Ryan has also objected to the construction of housing in Patrickswell, as well as a nursing home in the village.

He has compared the flow of the Loughmore Canal onto his land to being “like the Mississippi flowing into the River Loobagh in Kilmallock -you have a huge canal flowing into a small stream.”