Jack wades in for an unpleasant catch

When Jack Hamilton returned after 40 years in England to set up a fishing school in Freshford, Co Kilkenny, he never dreamed that his main catch would be plastic bags.

At 70, Jack might have expected to be watching the fish jumping from the riverbank rather than wading through the fast-flowing waters of the Nore in search of discarded rubbish.

Yet, faced with official indifference and a growing refuse problem, this is exactly how he spends his days. In the past few days alone, Jack has removed more than 100 sackfuls of rubbish from an otherwise scenic three-quarter-mile stretch of the river. "There's all kinds of everything there - bottles, nappies, tampons, antibiotics. The worst thing is that the bags break up when you try to lift them," he says.

Apart from being unsightly, the plastic bags threaten the fragile ecosystem of the river by forming an impenetrable mat on its bed through which nothing will grow.

As a boy, Jack remembers growing up by the river "when it had everything in it". Now, he says, the only signs of the famed freshwater mussels are empty shells, and the white-legged crayfish that once hugged the sallies have disappeared.

But the Nore is still famous for its trout, and Jack's fly-fishing school has prospered with local children and tourists alike. But when the sight of floating refuse sacks recently proved too much for some French visitors, prompting them to end their holiday abruptly, Jack decided it was time to take matters into his own hands - literally.

With his wife, Cathy, he contacted the council in Kilkenny, which promised to send someone out. When nothing had happened after four weeks, he rang the Department of the Environment, which suggested Dúchas might be able to help. Dúchas advised him to return to the council, which again promised to send someone to Freshford.

"But nothing happened. All our attempts to get help just fell on deaf ears. We have all this talk about the environment, but it doesn't seem to make any difference," Jack says.

It was at this point that he donned a wetsuit and even had a video shot to make sure there was no doubt about the extent of the problem. He doesn't feel entirely safe wading up to his neck in the river but says: "There doesn't seem to be anyone else to turn to".