Delegates at a UNESCO biosphere conference in Dublin are have been urged today to condemn plans by Irish Water for a sewage plant on the north Dublin coast
Opponents of the plan say it will pump inadequately treated waste water into Dublin Bay and destroy the biosphere.
UNESCO awarded Dublin Bay a coveted biosphere designation four years ago, the only EU capital to have the classification but campaigners say this is now being threatened by the Irish Water proposal.
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Among the opponents is Sabrina Joyce-Kemper, great grand-niece of James Joyce.
She said she feared that if the plant goes ahead it will destroy the integrity of Dublin Bay which inspired so much of her uncle's work.
She said: “Joyce loved every inch of this city and said he wanted to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of his book.
"But if this sewage plant goes ahead much of the natural beauty of the city, along with its flora and fauna and tourism magnets, will be destroyed forever.
“Irish Water didn’t even directly inform UNESCO of this threat to its Dublin Bay biosphere designation.
"This must be stopped and I hope UNESCO will now step in to protect Dublin Bay before it’s too late.”
Irish Water plans to pump sewage from half a million homes in Dublin and parts of Meath and Kildare into the Irish Sea off Ireland’s Eye.
Unlike the Ringsend plant where the waste is treated to tertiary level, the sewage from the proposed plant will only be treated to secondary level.
This has led to fears it will still contain disease–causing bacteria.
“The sewage outflow pipe at Ireland Eye is less than two miles from Howth and Portmarnock and about another mile from Malahide beach so this inevitably means that disease-causing bacteria will be washed up with incalculable results for the health of swimmers, tourists, the fishing industry, boats, jet skiers and others who use the beaches for recreation,” said Ms Joyce-Kemper.
The plant, which is the subject of a Bord Pleanala oral hearing that ends today, will be about four times the size of Croke Park.
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In addition to the threat posed to the Dublin Bay biosphere, objectors point out Irish Water is siting the plant right in the path of three major European protected special areas of conservation - Baldoyle Estuary, Ireland’s Eye and the Rockabill to Dalkey Island site.
Philip Swan of the Portmarnock Drainage Awareness group said: “None of these protected sites will escape some level of serious impact from the Irish Water plant.
"It will jeopardise flora and fauna in the European protected sites and threaten Dublin Bay’s UNESCO biosphere designation. It could turn into an environmental nightmare for Dublin Bay."
The 25-km long plant, stretching from Blanchardstown to Clonshaugh to Baldoyle, Portmarnock and Ireland’s Eye, will take at least four years to complete and will include a large sewage treatment station, a new pumping station, an underground orbital sewer and a storage facility for biosolid waste.
The An Bord Pleanala public hearing was told on Friday that the plant poses grave risks to the health and well-being of people living in the area.
There are fears construction work could release Aspergillus, the bacteria that cause legionnaires disease, and CPE the drug-resistant super bug.
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CPE, which is resistant to most forms of antibiotics, has already been involved in the deaths of a number of people in Irish hospitals.
In 2017 it was confirmed that there were 435 cases of CPE in Ireland.
Concerns have also been raised about the fact that Irish Water says windows at Connolly Hospital and St Francis Hospice Blanchardstown will have to be closed “at all times” during six months of tunnelling work for the underground orbital sewer that is also part of the project.
An Bord Pleanala are expected to deliver its decision on the proposal by June 28.
