Campaigners have said they don't want Portmarnock to turn into "another Ringsend" after .
Local community leaders have once again slammed the decision by Irish Water to pump sewage treatment waste into the Irish Sea at Ireland's Eye.
Just this week, An Bord Pleanala announced that it had deferred its decision on the planned monster sewage treatment plant for Clonshaugh in north Dublin.
The plans, if approved, would see Irish Water pump secondary treated sewage into the sea just off Portmarnock beach near the fishing village of Howth.
Philip Swan has questioned the integrity of Irish Water and said that Ireland needs to be a "world leader" in waste water treatment.
He said: "Irish Water has failed to immediately inform the public in the past about leaks at Ringsend. It has neither the integrity nor expertise to be trusted with another plant.
“We need to be world leaders in waste water treatment if we want to protect our natural assets and the income they generate for the state.
"The Government must avoid spending taxpayer’s money on a project that will not be fit for purpose as Ringsend proves.
“The proposed Irish Water plant at Clonshaugh and Portmarnock will mean tunnelling under Connolly Hospital and the area around St Francis Hospice."
The Irish Water proposal includes a €500 million sewage plant at Clonshaugh, an orbital sewer from Blanchardstown and an outfall pipe through the protected Baldoyle Estuary into the Irish Sea.
Sabrina Joyce Kemper, a member of the Environmental Conservation and Habitats Organisation, said that opposition to the plans has come from across north Dublin.
She said: “Over 30,000 people have objected to this plant because it poses risks to people’s health and to the physical and marine environment of Dublin Bay on which fishing and tourism depend.”
"Huge opposition to the proposed sewage plant came from communities across county Dublin, especially in Portmarnock, Malahide, Abbotstown, Finglas, Baldoyle and Howth, backed by environmental experts.
"We have a panel of experts, marine and microbiologists, all of them agree this plant would have killed life in the sea. Heavy metal would accumulate in shellfish and habitats would be destroyed.
"Waste water treatment plants in Ireland can be part of the solution not the problem.”
