Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Bacik for introducing this very good Bill. It is also welcome that the Minister is welcoming it and will work with it on Committee Stage. Dublin Bay is hugely important to everyone in this country, not just people living close to the coast. It is an environmental jewel that needs to be protected.

During Covid, many people discovered swimming and how important and healthy is sea swimming. Before Covid, I would not have gone near the coast but for some reason it was probably one of the few activities you could take up during Covid. It is so healthy and really helps your mental health. I find it really good for re-setting the system.

This Bill would see the bathing season of Dublin Bay changed to cover the entire year. It is important to acknowledge that in 2008, our constituency colleague John Gormley set out minimum requirements for bathing water testing under the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008. That was a first, was needed and showed great foresight. It is something we need to build on. Times have changed, things have moved on and we must move on with them. An authority such as that proposed would be worth looking at.

Raw sewage was mentioned. I sometimes go swimming out at Red Rock. I only recently discovered that 40 houses near Howth are spilling sewage into Dublin Bay. Irish Water has indicated that it will be 2025 before a treatment facility is put in place to address the fact that sewage from these 40 homes goes into the bay. Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council take a much more proactive approach and test all year round, including several popular swimming sites that are not designated as bathing locations. My understanding is that there are just two designated bathing areas, Dollymount and Sandymount, and four non-designated, Merrion, Shellybanks, the Half Moon and the North Bull Island causeway. Effectively it is almost impossible to swim at the Merrion site. I know the last three tests have been red flags. In the Dublin City Council area, there are only two designated bathing areas and four non-designated bathing areas that are also tested. We need a live dashboard that monitors leaks from the Ringsend treatment plant, which was mentioned. This has a significant impact. Almost every time it rains, raw sewage flows out into the bay and has an adverse effect on the entire bay.

Almost every year, ectocarpus, a foul-smelling algae bloom, is found along Sandymount Strand. It makes Sandymount Strand almost unusable for walkers. All you can say is that the smell is disgusting. It smells like raw sewage. In Dollymount, they scrape it off and pile it high. I have worked with Dublin City Council on this and challenged it about it. It maintains that ectocarpus is a natural algae bloom and of course it most certainly is but the amount of this foul-smelling algae is completely unacceptable. I am convinced and Dublin City Council begrudgingly admits that it has something to do with overflow. The nitrate from the raw sewage feeds the algae so we have vast volumes of algae, which sometimes makes Sandymount Strand unusable. It is something we need to address and acknowledge because I do not believe Dublin City Council has fully acknowledged or is willing to acknowledge openly that this is the case. As has been said, the wastewater treatment plant is already damaging the environment. Even when the works are done to complete the additional capacity, it will just be at capacity for the people it serves. If there is any heavy rain, and living in Ireland there is a fairly good chance of a lot of rain, there is ongoing contamination of Dublin Bay by raw sewage.

The amount of waste from the Liffey, the Grand Canal and the Tolka that flows into Dublin Bay is horrendous. The Government needs to increase funding for projects such as Jimmy Murray's Liffey Sweeper project. It is a positive and constructive project that works and employs local people, including young people who might find it challenging to get jobs in other sectors. This is a really good project. It is a win-win. There are no downsides to this. It cleans the Liffey. I saw that Flossie Donnelly, who does a lot of work around cleaning up the bay, posted a photo of a young seal on a mattress that had been swept into Dublin Bay. It would not take a huge amount of resources to fund the Liffey Sweeper and it is really effective. Dublin City Council has invested in it. It is important to acknowledge the commitment of Dublin Port, which has shown its support for the bay in general and the Liffey Sweeper project.

From more than 11 sampling trips undertaken by the Liffey Sweeper, a total of 4,114 kg of debris was extracted. Indeed, 70% of that waste removed from the River Liffey is recycled. If it was not taken out of the River Liffey, it would end up in Dublin Bay.

We cannot just look at Dublin Bay in isolation. We have to look at the waterways that feed into it, and we must expand projects like the Liffey Sweeper to cover the Dodder and the Tolka rivers and the Clontarf estuary. I know the Liffey Sweeper has been used in Grand Canal Dock to clean it up. In the Liffey and Dublin Bay, tidal movements move waste on, but in the canal areas such as Grand Canal Dock and George's Dock, the waste just sits there. It has to be taken out by hand or net. The Liffey Sweeper does that and the workers do a fantastic job. The Tolka River and Grand Canal Dock are probably two of the most polluted waters in Ireland, according to new research published this year.

The biosphere co-ordinator for Dublin City Council, Mr. Dean Eaton, has been mentioned by other speakers. I met him a number of weeks ago and he gave us a presentation. The Dublin Bay biosphere partnership is overseen by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Dublin Port and Fáilte Ireland. It is a very good initiative. It has to be given teeth, as has been proposed. I know Mr. Eaton goes to great lengths to promote Dublin Bay in terms of education, awareness, tourism, conservation, research, recreation and cultural heritage. He has done a huge amount of invaluable work with very limited resources, and he has published a biodiversity conservation and research strategy for 2022 to 2026. It is most important that all Members participating in this discussion take a look at that and take it in. It is an important guiding piece of work. I underline the need to support projects like the Liffey Sweeper to ensure that the Liffey and Dublin Bay are clean. It is a good community project.

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