Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The discharges of sewage into Dublin Bay as a result of rain, something that happens a lot in this country, and the rendering of significant parts of Dublin Bay and its beaches - many in my area but all around Dublin Bay - impossible to swim in is horrendous and unacceptable. Many constituents in my area have rung me in disgust at the idea that rain could be the reason sewage is discharged into the sea. It is not as if this is an isolated example. It happened earlier this year and has happened repeatedly over many years.

I took the time to look back at the Irish Water business plan from 2015, four years ago, in which Irish Water identified 44 wastewater agglomerations where discharges were taking place nationally, 43 of which did not comply with secondary treatment requirements. Irish Water identified the critical problem relating to the discharge we are discussing, which was the lack of capacity at the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant. It is massively over capacity. That was identified four years ago and Irish Water stated it was going to do something about it. It is still happening and, although there are plans in train for the upgrade and so on, it will still be another year, according to Irish Water, before anything happens to stop this. It is not acceptable.

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