P J Sheehan (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise the important issue of a restriction on the amount of sea lettuce that can be removed from the beaches at Inchydoney and Courtmacsherry and the coastline of Clonakilty Bay and Courtmacsherry Bay in south west Cork, which have been blighted by huge swathes of rotting and noxious smelling green tide with its foul odour being detectable up to 4 km inland. There is a proposal by a commercial operator to use the dried ulva as an ingredient for animal and fish feed by operating a €1.5 million drying and processing facility in south west Cork, which would create local employment and remove this dangerous scourge from the beaches and coves of these two bays.

I understand that a progress report has been completed by the local task force and this has been submitted to the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources for consideration. I have been invited to a briefing on the report on Friday week by Cork County Council. I have raised this issue because that it has been reported that a limit of 50 tonnes has been proposed in this report on the amount that can be removed by commercial operations for use, while it has been scientifically calculated that up to 200,000 tonnes is washed ashore annually in south west Cork.

Sea lettuce has been an ongoing problem since first recorded in 1995. One reporter described it as follows:

The other morning the vast lawns of sea lettuces looked beautiful in the sunlight, like dark green golf courses or the Serengeti after the first annual rain. However, when it dries over the cord grass it appears like stretched grey skin with ribs protruding from beneath. The Serengeti suddenly seems to be ringed with corpses of dead elephants.

Last August, unprecedented amounts of this algae sea lettuce washed up on the beaches of Brittany, France, causing a major public health scare as it decomposed. The rotting leaves produced large quantities of hydrogen sulphide, a toxic gas. In one incident a horse rider lost consciousness and his horse died after breathing the seaweed fumes. In another incident, a lorry driver passed out, crashed and died, with toxic fumes claimed to be the cause.

Sea lettuce is not only an environmental nuisance, but is potentially lethal. I do not want reports going right around the world of tourists deaths in my constituency, Cork South West, because a bureaucratic committee decided to pussy foot around the issue. The cause of this problem has been identified in a report commissioned by the EPA and sitting gathering dust in its offices since March 2007 as nutrient enrichment provided by sewage and animal waste. The operator behind the proposed industrial development is considering an alternative site in Brittany, France, to base his operations if he is not allowed to commence operations here as he needs the go ahead soon to commence operations for this year. We cannot afford to lose these jobs, which are badly needed in this area. The operator and his company would do us a favour by removing the sea lettuce before it stinks to the high heavens. By removing the sea lettuce they will save Cork County Council hundreds of thousands of euro in clean up operations.

I call on the Minister to publish the EPA report immediately in order that the remedies can be tackled, including the installation of sewage treatment facilities. I doubt he will have the resources during the rest of his term of office of two years and one week from today, provided the Government goes the full term, and, therefore, I ask him not to put a limit on the amount of sea lettuce that can be removed for commercial purposes rather than sitting on his hands and letting this problem rot for another 15 years. I want to go home to my people in west Cork at the end of this week and say the Minister has taken a small step in the right direction. His remaining time in office is short and, therefore, the time for action is now. He should publish the EPA report, licence the removal of the sea lettuce and pursue the commissioning of sewage treatment plants in this area.

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