Sean Barrett (Independent)

I wish to refer to the second editorial in The Irish Times today, namely, the Battle of Clontarf mark II. Some 3,000 people attended a protest on Sunday against Dublin City Council's proposal to build a 9 ft. high barricade along the seafront from the railway bridge at Clontarf to the wooden bridge to access the Royal Dublin golf club. As speakers, including Roddy Doyle, said at the meeting the view of Dublin Bay should be one of the attractions of the city and should not be hidden.

I understand the Minister, Deputy Hogan and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, have strong views on the issue, as well as the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, who is responsible for tourism. The right hand side of the wooden bridge at Dollymount is where the flooding problem is and on the left-hand side a large area is silting up because of a causeway built by the city council to stop the water escaping into Sutton creek. The people would welcome more water. The sailing club in Kilbarrack had to shut down due to a lack of depth, while the other side of the causeway is flooding. The causeway should be breached and the water allowed to flow into Dublin Bay through the creek.

The people of Clontarf should be able to continue to enjoy the amenity of looking across to the mountains, ships and sea, as Roddy Doyle said. It is an area where people play and train for football. I hope the Minister, Deputy Hogan, takes the short journey from his office in the Custom House to see the project at first hand and report back to the House that there are perhaps better ways of dealing with the flooding problem in Clontarf than building a 9 ft. high barricade.