North Cork Creameries, the dairy co-op, has suspended production at its facility in Kanturk Co Cork after it was issued a notice from the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to cease discharging effluent on 14 November.
The EPA statement says that the creamery "will not be permitted to resume discharging effluent until it has made changes to bring their activities into compliance with their licence".
The co-op is located on the River Allow, a tributary of the Blackwater river.
The EPA statement explained that almost two weeks ago on 11 November, after detecting effluent discharges from North Cork Creameries, which violated its licence conditions, it was directed to take corrective action.
On a second EPA visit three days later on 14 November, the EPA was "not satisfied that compliance was satisfactorily restored and deemed that the discharges should not be resumed".
"Therefore, on November 14th, 2025, the EPA issued a Notice pursuant to s. 97B of the EPA Act 1992 (as amended) to North Cork Creameries, directing them to suspend discharges from SW1 [wastewater outlet]", according to the EPA statement.
The EPA notice also directs the creamery to "without delay, take the necessary measures to ensure that compliance with the conditions of the Licence is restored in the shortest possible time".
Operations 'temporarily paused since mid-last week'
In a statement North Cork Creameries said that following from ongoing adjustment to wastewater treatment at the plan, "it had temporarily paused production at the facility since mid-last week."
"We are co-operating fully with the EPA to ensure compliance with our licenced wastewater treatment requirements."
The statement said that creamery is "investing substantially" in its operations in this regard.
"The co-operative complied immediately with EPA requirements. We will resume processing at the earliest time with the approval of the EPA."
The co-op added that its other activities namely collecting milk its suppliers is operating "as normal and meeting the needs of all customers".
This notice to cease discharging at the creamery comes at a sensitive time given that up to 50,000 fish were kill on the River Blackwater in August.
Cause remains undetermined
A subsequent EPA led investigation into that pollution event was unable to determine the cause of it.
A determination was made that "despite the seriousness and significance of licence breaches at NCC" in the June to August period, there was "no causal link between the NCC's discharges into the River Allow and the fish mortalities in the Blackwater".
It found that it could "not identify a specific cause despite extensive testing".
It concluded that "The most likely explanation is that an irritant in the water contributed to the mortality, but the exact source remains undetermined."
However, at an Oireachtas Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy Committee hearing following the investigation on 30 September, Dr Tom Ryan Director of the EPA's Environmental Enforcement Office stated that: "North Cork Co-operation is a site with a history of failure to consistently achieve compliance with its licence discharge conditions and was already the subject of significant enforcement activity by EPA prior to the incident."
This incident led to a prosecution in April this year, on emissions licence condition breaches.
The company pleaded guilty to the charges, including breaches of limits for ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and nitrogen between May and August 2022.
