New community water quality forum launched in the Boyne Catchment

The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) launched the new Boyne Catchment Community Forum with an inaugural meeting on Monday 12th November 2025, at Newgrange Hotel Navan, Meath.

The event marked a significant milestone in facilitating community-led participation in the protection and restoration of water quality in the Boyne catchment.

The Boyne Catchment Community Forum is one of five pilot river catchment projects across Ireland, established under the new River Basin Management Plan to support public participation. The meeting was a fruitful follow-on from previous scoping meetings to figure out the most suitable format for how people from counties Meath, Louth, Cavan, Offaly, Westmeath and Kildare might participate in delivering better water quality for all.

The Boyne Catchment Community Forum is now formalised, with representatives included from Boyne Rivers Trust, IFA Meath, Carbury Knockirr Bog Trust, Virginia Tidy Towns, Balyna Environmental Action Group, Meath An Taisce, Mornington Tidy Towns, Solstice Meath, Kilann Parish Council, Trim Canoe Club, Trim-Athboy Anglers, Boyne Catchment Anglers.

Forum members also include representatives from local community groups, agriculture, angling and recreational interests. While the forum achieved a good sectoral balance and geographic spread, it welcomes further applications from younger people and farmers.

The forum elected its leadership team during the meeting and discussed areas of key focus for 2026. This includes the impacts of urban and rural wastewater discharge, especially in regard to sewage, promoting local public awareness and understanding of water quality issues, and developing greater collaboration and cooperation across the Boyne Catchment.

The forum members are focussed on taking proactive measures rather than just discussing issues. They are keen to forge relationships with their catchment counterparts in the four other pilot fora being developed in other parts of the country and to engage purposefully with all relevant stakeholders using the avenues that are now available to the Boyne Catchment Community Forum.

Further meetings have been scheduled for December and early 2026 where members will be able to learn how to access water monitoring data from catchments.ie as well as find out about historic Catchment Management Plans.

Basil Mannion, Senior Community Water Officer for LAWPRO in the Midlands and East region explained: “The purpose of the Boyne Catchment Community Forum is to identify what the members, assisted by LAWPRO, see as the priorities for the catchment and then to develop a plan of action to address these issues.”

He emphasised that the establishment of the Forum is a key action within Ireland’s Water Action Plan or River Basin Management Plan: “This is an exciting opportunity for public participation and LAWPRO will work closely with the Forum and local communities right across the Boyne Catchment to support better water quality for all.”

The forum elected Ciaran Duggan, a member of Carbury Knockirr Bog Trust in Kildare as its Chair, Dermot Ward of Meath IFA as Vice Chair and Aoife Lynskey of Miltownpass Tidy Towns in Westmeath as Secretary. LAWPRO will continue to provide secretariat support to the forum as agreed in the initial scoping meetings.

Ciaran Duggan the new Chair of the forum stated: “In many ways, the Boyne has come to symbolise community difference on this island and indeed actually forms part of the borders between the counties it drains. The Boyne Catchment Community Forum is about overcoming these perceived differences, bringing together communities with an interest in improving the Boyne and all its tributaries, and giving them a strong voice in how it is looked after into the future”.

The Boyne Catchment Community Forum is part of the Catchment Community Fora initiative, coordinated by LAWPRO. This national pilot programme works with communities to protect and improve water quality, supporting local engagement and collaboration across Ireland’s river catchments. By bringing together diverse stakeholders, the fora aim to share knowledge, identify challenges, and develop practical solutions that benefit both people and nature.

For more information about the Boyne Catchment Community Forum and LAWPRO’s work, contact Donnacha Ryan, LAWPRO Community Water Officer covering Meath and Offaly at dryan@lawaters.ie.