Celebrating Heritage Week in Clough’

The theme for Heritage Week 2026 was ‘Heritage at Risk’ and a number of events were held to focus attention on unique aspects of our heritage, natural, built and cultural. Supported by the River Basin Management Service and the Tipperary Heritage Office, a public river sampling exercise and walkover survey was held at the Ballyfinboy River Cloughjordan. This interactive event saw the use of special nets and display containers to capture and show the normally hidden life of the river. Trout, Stonefish, Caddidflies, Damselflies, Water Snails and many other examples of invertebrates and aquatic life were found. According to the EPA Ireland has more than 73,000km of river channels. If placed end-to-end, they could encircle the Earth almost twice. Three-quarters of these channels are very small streams that typically flow into larger rivers.

The water quality at half (50%) of the monitored river water bodies in Ireland is categorised as being at ‘good’ and ‘high’ ecological status. The remaining half are at less than good (50%). Almost one fifth (18.5%) of monitored river water bodies are in poor or bad status and are severely polluted. The Ballyfinboy is a priority for action under the current River Basin Management Plan and these surveys help assess current health levels as well as engaging people in the better understanding and future care of their local waterway.