Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We have a problem at the moment in Dublin Bay. There have been discharges of sewage of various types into the bay 15 times in the past year. The fact that it is only noticed several days after the fact means people are swimming in sewage.

I am keen to hear the Minister of State's views on same day testing all year round. People swim, surf and do everything in Dublin Bay all year round. We should have same day testing all year round. I want to know from the Department if that is being advanced and funded as needs be.

We also need to know the exact technical reason this is happening. Is there anything that can be done other than waiting for the new sewage plant in north Dublin or the expansion of the existing site? We need to know if that will solve the immediate problem in Ringsend or whether the cause is that the other parts of the plant cannot cope with the volume, particularly when there are heavy rains causing sewage and rainfall water to mix together with the overflow tanks unable to cope. We need details on this and on the timeline offered for solutions. We also need details on the public information aspect so we are not getting notice several days after the fact and do not have to close all our beaches for several days after that until further updates come into place.

This issue is enormously significant for the people of Dublin where access to our bay is one of the best things about the city. We cannot tolerate the ongoing problem in Ringsend and the Government needs to take proactive measures to try and avert it.

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