Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on the EPA water quality report. The first message I would send is that we should not be alarmist when debating it. It states that 97% of the 148 identified bathing waters met the minimum standard required, so there are positive stories. There are other positive developments, including the new "See It? Say It!" app, where members of the public can report pollution where they see it. I welcome these initiatives. However, there are also serious problems. Urban wastewater incidents, agricultural run-off, fouling from dogs and algal blooms were factors that impacted negatively on beaches last year.

We are all familiar with the no-swim notices circulated and displayed in places like Seapoint and the Forty Foot in Dublin and around the country where there are issues with water quality. This is an issue across the country. My colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, speaks with me about issues with the bathing water quality in Balbriggan. It is certainly an issue for my constituency of Dublin Bay South. I regularly hear from constituents, many of whom are associated with the great Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association, SAMRA, who tell me about the discharges they see of raw sewage directly onto Sandymount beach and Merrion Strand. As a regular sea swimmer at Poolbeg on the South Wall, I have seen evidence of large volumes of raw sewage deposited onto the beach. It is a public health issue for swimmers, dog walkers and walkers generally. It is nothing short of wholesale pollution, which if done by a commercial company would result in immediate closure. The official bathing season starts on 1 June and runs until 15 September. Many of us swim year round, however, and there are reports of people becoming ill after swimming in the sea outside the official bathing season. Just last week, swimmers were advised to steer clear of Seapoint due to heavy rain. It is well known that you see the no-swim notices going up when there is heavy rain. It is because of sewage. It is appalling and extraordinary that, in a city that is lucky to have such an incredible coastline, swimming spots and public amenities on our doorstep, we do not take greater care of these amenities. In October 2022, in reply to a question put by me in the Dáil, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, committed to year-round testing of water, but we still await a commitment in respect of treatment, a proper vision and proper implementation of controls for swimmers and others who wish to use the bay.

I will refer to my proposed vision for Dublin Bay, but I will also acknowledge the immense work that has been done by local organisations, for example, the Half Moon Swimming and Water Polo Club, which has a strong presence and long history on the South Wall at Poolbeg. It does a large amount of work. Mr. Murray's Liffey Sweeperand the Irish Nautical Trust are well known to everyone in and around the Ringsend and Irishtown area. A significant amount of local effort is going into keeping the amenity on our doorstep well cared for, but we need to see better joined-up thinking and co-ordination from the Government. That is why I introduced the Dublin Bay Bill 2021, which was debated on Second Stage last December and passed Second Stage with cross-party support. That Bill was drafted with the intention of providing a stronger framework for the protection of our great amenity of Dublin Bay and ensuring democratic accountability through a statutory authority with the mandate and remit to provide for the protection and enhancement of the environment and to ensure co-ordination of strategic planning and sustainable development around the bay. There was Government support for the idea of a statutory authority. I acknowledge that there are existing structures, but they are not statutory.

There is a task force that looks at Dublin Bay and seeks to protect this UNESCO site, but because of its lack of teeth and statutory basis, we have seen Dublin Port Company playing a dominant role in deciding the bay’s future. I made a lengthy submission to the Dublin Port Company in recent weeks on its 3FM plans for the expansion and development of its facilities at Dublin Bay. It is fair enough that the company has such plans, given that it is an entity with a clear vested interest in developing the port, but it is not good enough that no one else can oversee the port’s development and how it will fit into the plans for greater public amenities. For example, the company has plans to stack containers in what will be a deeply intrusive area of the Poolbeg Peninsula, impacting visually and in every other way on walkers on the strand and people who are using the lovely nature reserve at Irishtown. It is not good enough that there is no entity that has a democratic oversight of the Dublin Port Company’s plans. I have engaged directly with the company, met its new management and said this to it along with making my submission. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications has uttered a public critique of the Dublin Port Company’s role. Let us do something about it. Let us see how we can improve governance, accountability and oversight structures in respect of the development of Dublin Bay. Other countries have seen good synergies between ports and local communities. In Barcelona, the port has been greatly improved as a public amenity.

We have seen the public development of swimming areas or lidos. As we are talking about swimming and bathing water, let us have a public lido. There is a strong campaign here in Dublin for a lido at George's Dock. The idea is for a lido with public access to replace the ill-fated proposed white water rafting facility. This would be an enormous amenity for us. I am old enough to remember the public baths in Blackrock. It is such a loss that we no longer have any sort of public baths along the sea line. I know there has been some development in Clontarf but nothing like those municipal baths facilities that we used to see. My mother recalls Sandymount baths on the strand and Dún Laoghaire baths. We have lost out hugely on the sort of public municipal civic amenities that we should have. Passage of the Dublin Bay Bill would enable much greater enhancement of the environmental and marine biodiversity of the bay but also the public amenity that should be our bay. I am delighted to put that on the record and am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the debate.

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