Representatives from over 20 different local community organisations were in attendance
Thursday, 8th of August 2024: The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) held a workshop on public participation in water catchment management in the Meadow Court Hotel in Loughrea on the 27th of July 2024. LAWPRO is a national shared service working on behalf of 31 local authorities in Ireland coordinating efforts to achieve good water quality across the country.
Community groups and representatives from across the Galway Bay Southeast Catchment Area (Co. Galway and Co. Clare) met to discuss and co-design a Catchment Community Forum model for the Galway Bay Southeast Catchment and catchments across Ireland, focused on improving local water quality and ways to actively include communities in the river basin management process. This is part of a wider initiative nationally to develop a model for community and public participation as part of the next River Basin Management Plan which will be published shortly.
The River Basin Management Plan is Ireland’s roadmap for restoring and protecting water quality, across the 46 river catchments in Ireland. An ambition in the plan, is to put in place community fora that meet the needs of local communities when it comes to involvement in water quality management.
Speaking after the workshop Luke Drea, Senior Community Water Officer with LAWPRO said: “The workshop in Loughrea (Co. Galway) was incredibly encouraging, the level of debate and true engagement in the room from the outset was obvious. We are lucky in the western region to have a wealth of community groups and organisations who are dedicated to protecting our waters and their surrounding environments. The value of their time and expertise in contribution to this process, cannot be understated”
The Galway Bay southeast catchment was chosen as one of five pilot areas to for the workshops on account of its regional significance and the contrast in demographics, pressures, landscape and land use in relation to the other four pilot catchments chosen nationally.
On the day of the workshop, LAWPRO’s Dr Bernadette White (regional coordinator western region) set the workshop context and outlined the importance of this work for enhance public participation in Ireland. Cormac McConigley (catchment manager western region) gave a presentation on the water quality status of the Galway Bay Southeast catchment. Detailed maps of the water quality pressures for the catchment were displayed on the day for attendees to review.
Phillip Isard with Quality Matters outlined the purpose of the workshop and facilitated the session, with the support of LAWPRO staff from its catchment science and community teams. A range of questions and potential management scenarios for the participants were put forward for consideration and discussion including models for what a community forum may look like but primarily taking the communities views on board with all feedback recorded.
There were some questions specific to the Galway Bay South East Catchment concerning ways of making sure a Catchment Community Forum is inclusive of a diverse range of voices in the catchment, while also being a platform for facilitating joined-up thinking for protecting and restoring water bodies in-partnership with local organisations and implementing bodies.
Quality Matters will take the workshop feedback and information and prepare a synthesis report which will be brought forward, along with the other pilot outputs to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for consideration during implementation of the next River Basin Management Plan.
Representatives on the day amongst others included Cuan Beo, ADL Woodland Group, Corrib Beo, Lough Carra Catchment Association, Climate Action Louisburgh Local Area, as well as interested private individuals.