Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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595. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if the attention of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, has been drawn to the frequent closure of beaches by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and local authorities in the past two years (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43542/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a key statutory body for investigating complaints of pollution and for the enforcement, both directly and through oversight of local authorities, of environmental legislation in Ireland, including compliance in relation to licensed urban waste water discharges. Public notification of beach closures is generally by way of beach notices, local authority communication networks and via the national bathing water website () operated by the EPA.

The EPA's Bathing Water Quality Report for 2016 identifies several bathing waters adjacent to urban areas as being prone to episodic pollution events and being of less than 'good' water quality status. The requirement for bathing restrictions, either as an ‘advice against bathing’ or a ‘bathing prohibition’, is determined and implemented by the relevant local authority, rather than the EPA. Such restrictions are generally put in place as a precautionary measure following elevated bacterial counts from routine sampling which indicates the potential for increased public health risk, or as a proactive warning of possible pollution e.g. in advance of predicted heavy rainfall events. The choice of restriction is based on decision criteria agreed between the EPA and the HSE. 

An assessment of bathing water incidents by the EPA shows that many, in particular those affecting major urban centres around Dublin Bay, are likely to be linked to discharges from sewage outfalls, often following rainfall events. This is particularly so in the case of Loughshinny where existing wastewater infrastructure is under considerable pressure. In the cases of Merrion Strand and Sandymount Strand, investigations have shown pollution inputs from human waste contamination of surface water streams through misconnections as well as from avian and canine sources. The presence of these multiple inputs has been confirmed by genetic studies of faecal bacteria carried out by researchers at UCD.  The relative proportions that each contributes is still under investigation. While seabird impacts are known to be a factor in these locations, their more general contribution to water quality in other areas is unknown.

Bathing waters are sampled at regular intervals by local authorities during the bathing season from 1 June to 15 September, in accordance with the Bathing Waters Regulations 2008. Data is reported to the EPA who coordinate its quality assessment and the communication of such assessments to the public, my Department, and the European Commission by means of the  national bathing water website and through its annual bathing water report.