Dublin Bay is "not okay" to go swimming in.
That's what Taoiseach Micheal Martin has shockingly admitted after he said that money is being pumped into repairing and improving Ireland's sewage treatment plants.
He was responding to a question from Joe Molloy on Off The Ball last night where he was asked "when the situation for swimmers was going to be sorted out".
But the Fianna Fail leader said that he "hasn't got the specifics" on the "huge" money being put into Irish Water to facilitate the works.
Last month a survey revealed that more than 20% of Dublin Bay users have been ill or had health effects from the use of waters along the capital's coast.
He said: "There's been massive works on sewage treatment plants, particularly in Dublin. These plants are getting huge money, there's huge money going into Irish Water.
"More allocations this year to treat all sewage going into our waterways. It's an ongoing process. Many parts of the country it's fine to go swimming, Dublin Bay this isn't the case.
"I haven't got the specifics, but the work is ongoing with Irish Water."
The SOS Dublin Bay group recently had responses from over 1,200 people about their use of Dublin Bay with one in five sharing the worrying update.
The majority of users regularly swim in the waters, with over a half visiting every day in Summer and a quarter in Winter.
Among the symptoms reported were diarrhea (14%), skin rash (14%), gastroenteritis (13%), nausea (10%) and stomach ache (6%) with 21% of people reporting a combinations of symptoms which also include vomiting, headache and fever.
According to the group a total of 8.875 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and storm waters was discharged into Dublin Bay from overflow tanks located at the Ringsend Wastewater Treatment Plant between 2017 and 2020.
For the latest news and breaking news visit dublinlive.ie/news.
Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter @DublinLive - the official Dublin Live Twitter account - real news in real time.
We're also on Facebook/dublinliveonline - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the capital.
