Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for dealing with this issue. According to Irish Water, in the four-year period from 2017 to 2020, a total of 8.875 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and storm waters have been discharged into Dublin Bay from overflow tanks located at the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant. That figure does not include other significant discharges from the 410 storm water overflows in the Dublin region, which are not measured but are thought to exceed the discharges in the Ringsend plant. This equates to 3,550 full-size Olympic 50-metre pools over the four-year period and averages out at 74 Olympic pools full of untreated wastewater each month. These discharges of untreated sewer wastewater usually occur during storm periods when the current Dublin wastewater treatment facility reaches maximum capacity and cannot cope with loads being received.

As a representative for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, I am aware, as are all representatives along the Dublin Bay coast, of the beauty of Dublin Bay. We want to protect it. Every time it rains, there is a seawater quality issue. People swim in the sea all year round but it has become a part of the lifestyle of many more people since the pandemic. It is a serious health issue that they do not know whether the water they are going into is clean. They have an indication that if it has been raining, they should not go in for a couple of days, but the lack of transparency is a problem. My constituents want to be able to pick up their phone and check an application to see whether the water is good right now, not whether the water was good two days ago or whether the water will be good two days from now. There should be ongoing testing and live updates.

Councils have made some improvements and one can see the water quality on Killiney beach and so on, but people want to be able to check so they do not pick up serious illnesses, as we know has happened. People are interested in this. Approximately 21,500 people have signed a Dublin Bay petition organised by an excellent expert and advocacy group, SOS Dublin Bay. It is a live issue and features all of the constituencies along Dublin Bay.

There is also a serious concern that Ireland, by failing to deal with this in the appropriate way, is in breach of the 2006 bathing water directive. I would be interested to hear the Minister of State's points on that issue.

I and other Deputies have raised this matter consistently. Some 35 Deputies from the Dublin Bay area have signed a letter calling for year-round sea testing so our constituents have knowledge about whether or not the water is clean. That would provide additional data as to where the difficulties are, and that can be quite nuanced. There was a situation recently where the water on one beach was fine while the water on a neighbouring beach was seriously bad. It was later discovered that was to do with migratory birds or something random like that and was not to do with the water system. The key is having data for people to allow them to decide whether or not to get into the sea in the first instance. We need year-round water testing. We also need the ultraviolet technology in Ringsend to be used on a year-round basis so bathers can be protected.

Its usage has been extended somewhat, but I do not know to what extent. Perhaps the Minister has provided clarity on that in his script for the Minister of State to respond to me.

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