The River Dargle is being destroyed as a natural habitat for fish as a result of measures being taken by Bray Town Council to prevent flooding, according to a member of a local anglers club.
Mr Éamonn O'Toole, a committee member of the Dargle Anglers Club, says that although some clearance is needed, the extreme manner in which the council has removed trees and vegetation on the banks of the protected habitat, to limit potential flood damage, has adversely affected its fish population.
"The trees and vegetation are being removed in an ad-hoc way and the council don't have a properly structured maintenance programme at all," says Mr O'Toole.
"When they cut down all the trees, feeding is affected because insect life is reduced. The fish are exposed to sunlight because the natural cover on the river banks has been removed. The water is also polluted and the river bed disturbed by the machinery." Mr O'Toole's comments come in the light of a recent stand-off between between members of a local residents group; the Dargle Restoration Project, local councillors and council employees over the removal of vegetation.
"They should not have cleared all the trees away, but because it was the cost effective way to do it, they removed everything," says Mr O'Toole.
Ms Deirdre de Búrca, a town councillor and member of the Green Party, is also critical of the council's action.
She says the removal of vegetation is the only recommendation of the Barry report to limit flood damage which has been implemented since the initial clean-up programme in 1986/87. She says that a review of the council flood protection policy is needed.
The town engineer Mr Peter Phelan, says the measures that have been undertaken by the council are not extreme and that it has been carrying out similar vegetation removal work approximately every four years.
He adds that Bray Town Council takes account of environmental issues when carrying out this work.
"We don't cut it during the growing season and we only cut down the trees such as the willow and alder trees. You are still leaving all the undergrowth," he said, adding that the council regularly carries out other flood-prevention work.
A spokeswoman for the council's planning department says it has been official policy for a number of years to enhance the Dargle river bank area.