Oil spill investigated as possible cause of death of seagulls in River Liffey

Dublin City Council is investigating the source of a suspected oil spill into the River Liffey during the summer that may have killed a number of seagulls. The local authority said the cause of pollution near Commons Street in July, “has not been definitively established and investigations remain ongoing”. Kildare Wildlife Rescue (KWR) alerted the council to a suspected oil spill in the river near Custom House Quay and Seán O’Casey Bridge in Dublin city centre on July 20th, 2026. “Over the weekend we got more reports of gulls dead in water as the oil keeps leaking from the containment area and more oil seems to be flowing in,” KWR told Dublin City Council and the National Parks and Wildlife Service in an email. READ MOREIn the correspondence, released under Freedom of Information legislation, the animal rescue charity said it was “only able to rescue two gulls”. It said other birds “were still mobile, able to fly, or swimming in the Liffey where we could not access them or capture them safely”. KWR forwarded a complaint from a member of the public about the incident. The complaint alleged: “there are dead birds in the river and around it, some seagulls with oil in their feathers can’t fly, so they come out of the water on stairs and are dying.” In a statement, the council said its Water Pollution Control section was aware of reports of birds impacted by a “hydrocarbon incident”. However, it said it was “not in a position to confirm the cause of death of any birds reported in the area”, and it doesn’t hold “definitive records regarding the number of birds recovered”. The council said the “short-term localised” incident off Commons Street that impacted seagulls in July was separate to a pollution incident identified at Guild Street in 2025, where it is understood diesel was leaking near Samuel Beckett Bridge. “Recovery operations remain ongoing on the River Liffey in the Guild Street area, with a range of containment, recovery and mitigation measures in place to minimise environmental impacts. “Dublin City Council continues to monitor the situation closely and engage with the relevant parties to ensure that appropriate measures remain effective. The relevant party have been co-operating with Dublin City Council in implementing corrective measures,” the council added.