Barry Ward (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to deal with this issue. It has been ongoing for some time and I have raised it in the House on a number of occasions. A group in my area called SOS Dublin Bay, made up primarily of sea swimmers, is concerned about the quality of water in Dublin Bay and has raised this issue with me on a number of occasions. The group has written to the offices of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and has had meetings. We are coming up on the anniversary of a meeting on 23 June last year on this issue.

The group's concern relates to this country's compliance with the EU bathing water directive and its Irish counterpart transposed into Irish legislation, the 2008 bathing water quality regulations. It is concerned that we are not doing enough to comply with the directive or, on a very simple level, to provide peace of mind to people who are swimming in the waters around Ireland and in the rivers and lakes within Ireland. SOS Dublin Bay and I are specifically concerned with the quality of bathing water in Dublin Bay.

The European directive dates back to the 1970s. The original one was in 1976 and it was updated in 2006. It has made considerable progress throughout the European Union in terms of achieving much higher bathing water quality in rivers, lakes and coastal areas. That is to be commended. We have also made progress in that regard in Ireland but not enough. The reality is that sea, river and lake swimming has become a much bigger exercise now than it was even a few years ago. During the pandemic and the restrictions, many people availed of an amenity on their doorstep and used it in a very healthy way by swimming in the sea, lakes or rivers. That is also to be commended. It is a very good thing that people swim in the sea. It does one good, as well as everything else. However, people should be entitled to enjoy it with peace of mind.

The directive that exists since 2006 requires samplings to be conducted at least four times per season and no more than one month apart. It puts the sample results, in the context of particular bacteria, into four categories; poor, sufficient, good and excellent. I am happy to say that recent tests in Dublin Bay have all been excellent and that is to be welcomed.

The difficulty is in a number of areas. The sample results are not always excellent. It takes time for the result of the sampling to get into the public domain. People may find themselves swimming in water that is poor or insufficient for a long time - days - before they realise it is of poor quality. Difficulty also arises in respect of the regulations passed here in Ireland. Regulation 2 defines the bathing season in any year as the period of 1 June to 15 September in that year. That definition is incredibly restrictive and means we are only required to carry out monitoring under the directive during that short period. That should be changed, especially in light of the fact that people are now using seawater, river water and lake water all year round to swim. People are swimming not just between 1 June and 15 September but today, yesterday, tomorrow, Christmas Day and all through the winter.

People are swimming at the Forty Foot, Seapoint, Hawk Cliff, Blackrock, Sandycove and all the other coastal, river and lake points throughout the country. That is happening but we have prohibited local authorities from expanding the definition of the bathing season to include the whole year. Their obligations are restricted to that much shorter period. We are not in compliance with the directive in that regard and are at risk of facing a complaint to the European Commission regarding our failure to comply with the rules under the directive.

I know this issue has been raised with the Minister and there is a commitment to change it but it has not happened. We are coming up on a year since a meeting that took place between SOS Dublin Bay and the Minister and nothing has happened during that time. It is not a difficult drafting change to make. It would be easy for the Minister to do with the stroke of a pen. When will it happen? Can the Minister of State satisfy me that we are in full compliance with the bathing water directive?