John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I entirely agree with the Deputy about the tourism benefits of having pristine beaches all over the country. It enhances the quality of life of citizens in this city to have magnificent beaches on our doorstep. It must be said, and the EPA made clear in its report, that there was a significant problem with rainfall when the monitoring was being done last year which accounted for the bad readings. That is inevitable when there are unprecedented volumes of rainfall. Run-off, which comes not only from rivers and riverine inputs but also from elsewhere, leads to bad water quality. It is as simple as that. Those are the inevitable consequences of heavy rainfall. Consider the flash floods in County Donegal yesterday. Donegal has fantastic beaches but if one were to take readings around the area after such heavy rainfall one would find there was a deterioration in the bathing water quality.

I hope we will have a good summer this year, that there will be better readings and that we can regain the blue flags. It must be stated, because I do not believe this was made clear, that there were a number of gains in the matter of blue flags. In 2009, for example, Clogher Head and Greystones gained blue flags and in 2008 Dollymount, Culduff and Morriscastle gained blue flags which they held in 2009.

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