Five-star Castlemartyr Resort convicted of polluting river and killing more than 100 fish

A five-star hotel with a two Michelin star restaurant has been fined €10,000 after it was convicted of a pollution spillage which resulted in the deaths of more than 100 fish in a river which runs through its grounds.Castlemartyr Resort had denied three offences in a prosecution brought by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI). It related to a discharge on July 30th, 2025, from a pump house handling sewage from the luxury hotel into the Kiltha river which flows through its 89-hectare (220-acre) estate in east Cork.The hotel had been charged with causing or permitting polluting matter to enter the river, permitting or causing deleterious matter to fall into the river and discharging or permitting the discharge of trade effluent into the river without a licence on the day in question.IFI senior environmental officer Andrew Gillespie told Midleton District Court that he responded to a report of a discharge and when he went to Castlemartyr Resort he found the water was discoloured below a pump house near the river.READ MOREHe said there was a cutting in the bank from which there was a grey discharge and a bad odour emanating from the river. He noticed several dead fish whereas upstream the water was clear and there was lively fish activity.“Upstream there were a number of trout in a pool and they looked very healthy.” Samples taken at the discharge site and downstream showed significantly higher readings of ammonia levels and bio-oxygen which impact hugely on fish life.He said Castlemartyr facilities manager Simon O’Brien told him there had been a problem with the pump house after work had been carried out to connect it to a nearby Uisce Éireann wastewater treatment plant. IFI fisheries officer James Condon said he counted 129 dead fish.The hotel’s general manager Brendan Comerford said when the resort opened in 2008 the electricity to operate the pump house came from the Uisce Éireann wastewater treatment plant but the hotel had since secured its own power source. Its operation was dependent on a rotary switch that had been switched off at the time leading to an overflow and discharge. Comerford said he was certain the operational switch had not been turned off by any member of the resort staff and it was his belief that the switch had been turned off by a third party after they opened the manhole cover and gained access to the pump house.Asked by the solicitor for IFI, Vincent Coakley, if he had reported this interference by a third party to An Garda Síochána, Comerford said he had not. He did not think it was a criminal matter and at the time his focus was on a prompt clean-up of the river.He said the resort previously had a licence to discharge into the river from Cork County Council and had applied for one to Uisce Éireann when it took over from the council in 2021. The licence was pending.Judge Liz Healy convicted Castlemartyr Resort of all three counts. Defence barrister Ali Bracken pleaded for leniency, pointing out that relatively few fish were killed and that the hotel had spent €16,000 on a prompt clean-up.The judge noted the lack of previous convictions and imposed the maximum €5,000 fines for both causing or permitting a pollutant to enter the river and for discharging trade effluent iwithout a licence. She also ordered the hotel to pay IFI’s legal costs of €3,620.