May you be remembered for the river you were and not for the river you've become.

Good evening, tonight's programme is on the tragic end of the River Suir as a clean, safe and environmental friendly river.

The Suir, best remembered by the people of Ireland and by the world for it's fishing and boating activities, was yesterday officially declared as "unsafe" and "potentially dangerous" to the human race due to the amount of pollution that has been dumped in it. It has been advised that the people of Ireland should stay well away from the river as it is now so polluted that it is generating a vast amount of radiation from toxic waste in the river.

It is planned to block off the other two rivers (The Barrow and The Nore) from its sister so that they don't become polluted also. A dam will be built to ensure this and building will commence as soon as possible.

We are also mourning the loss of hundreds of wildlife including Hedgehogs, Pine martin, Otters and many more species. There are many different types of wildlife living near the river and to protect the few remaining fences or maybe even electric fences, will be put up from a certain distance so that the animals will be kept safe and kept far away from the river. Birds have not been seen flying over the river for some time now so it is suspected that it will stay that way and that they will look after themselves by staying away from the river. Sadly it has to be said that hundreds of fish have been killed and there is no hope for any of the few surviving fish.

Many questions are now being asked as to how the river came to be in such a state and why nothing was done about it before hand. Different explanations that people are coming up with are that the chemical factory near by was secretly disposing of its chemicals and dumping them in the river unnoticed. Gardai are investigating the situation. But probably the most logical explanation for the pollution is that the people of Ireland are plainly and simply not looking after their own country. They are dumping their waste in the river without thinking twice and now finally the consequences have come and like most tragedies that happen we were completely unprepared.

People from all around the country and from around the world are now organizing a huge clean up operation that will eventually lead to the river being clean again in another 100 years or so if the work is continued down through the ages. This will have to be very precisely thought out due to the obvious dangers of the river.

It is deeply regretted by environmental groups and the people of Ireland that such a problem has come about and it is bound to affect the tourism to the country. It is very sad to see that we have had to see one of our own rivers die, one that has been there since all the population of Ireland can remember but one question still remains: if we had cleaned up our act 20 years ago would we be in the situation we're in today? NO!

For more information or to register your school in the YRE Programme, please contact:

Carina Dolly, YRE Manager
An Taisce, Tailors' Hall, BackLane, Dublin 8
Tel: 01 707 7067 Fax: 01 454 1802 E-mail: yre@antaisce.org