Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This morning we heard the unfortunate news from the Environmental Protection Agency that there are significant risks to the environment throughout the country. We have been made aware now that there are particular identifiable aspects that are causing damage to the environment and to water quality in particular. One of the references made by the chief executive, Laura Burke, on RTÉ's "Morning Ireland" programme this morning was to the discharge of untreated sewage into rivers and waterways throughout the country. This is an issue that really has to be addressed and which is particularly close to my heart, because in Dún Laoghaire, there is a pumping station on the west pier of the harbour, which removes the waste from the broader south Dublin area and pumps it into the treatment plant at Poolbeg. In the ordinary course of events, it works very efficiently and removes it but if there is a high rainfall event, that pumping system becomes overwhelmed. Because of a Victorian sewer system, the run-offs from the streets and gardens etc. go into the same courses as the sewage. This means the attenuation tanks at the west pier cannot cope with it, with the result that if there is a very heavy rainfall event, there is an overflow of untreated sewage into Dublin Bay. Dublin Bay is a UNESCO biosphere, a special area of conservation and a tremendously important recreational amenity for all people in Dublin, including those in Dún Laoghaire. In recent times we have seen an increase in the incidences of bathing water bans and overflows into Dublin Bay at Seapoint and the west pier, which are unacceptable. We need to provide funding to rehabilitate the sewage system in the Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown areas to ensure that when there is rainfall, the associated run-off water is separated and put directly and safely into the sea, rather than putting it into a sewage system unnecessarily, resulting in damage to the water quality in Dublin Bay and the environment.