Irish Rail working to contain River Liffey diesel spill

Eva Osborne

Irish Rail is assuring the public that it is working to contain a diesel spill which happened last year in the River Liffey.

An overflow pipe was damaged and leaked for a number of weeks before being discovered in March 2025.

A floating barrier is in place to prevent the leaked fuel from spreading further.

The containment measures are in place where the overflow pipe discharges to the Liffey at the Samuel Beckett Bridge.

Speaking on Newstalk, Barry Kenny of Iarnród Éireann said: "Well we have a fuel farm at Connolly for obviously fuelling of trains so diesel is stored there.

"There was an underground pipe that was damaged at some point.

"The minor leak over time unfortunately did result in seepage into the ground water there and that's, I suppose, where it's coming out in low volumes."