Around 100 canoeists from all over Ireland gathered on a Co Kerry river yesterday to protest against a proposed hydro-electric scheme.
The protesters at the Roughty River near Kilgarvan were joined by some local farmers.
The canoeists have said they are running out of unspoilt whitewater rivers - rivers with variable and challenging levels suitable for canoeing - as a result of the proliferation of small hydro-electric schemes on Irish rivers.
The 19-mile Roughty runs into Kenmare Bay and is one of a few rivers to receive three stars in the Irish Whitewater Guidebook. The section of the river earmarked for the hydro-electric scheme has a huge variety of waterfalls and rapids and is "an ideal river to train on" according to Mr Eoin Browne, one of the organisers of the "Save the Roughty" campaign.
"We are completely for green energy. It would be nice however, if as well as unspoilt air we could have unspoilt rivers," Mr Morgan O'Sullivan, co-ordinator of the protest, said.
He was pleased by the turnout yesterday: "It goes some way towards showing the concern paddlers have about rivers and the growth in hydro-electric schemes."
Plans for a hydro-electric scheme on the Roughty river are currently with An Bord Pleanála, following on oral hearing in Tralee in October. A decision is expected next month.