Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-24
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Barry Heneghan (IND), Dublin Bay North

I was swimming in Dún Laoghaire this morning, so I am very worried. I have raised this multiple times. In the north Dublin coastal communities of Clontarf, Bayside and Howth, swimmers constantly get swim warnings. Seán Dublin Bay Loftus, a former Independent TD in my constituency whose family endorsed me, fought to protect Dublin Bay from pollution. Other countries have cracked this. The Netherlands has restored millions of seagrass plants along its coasts, as well as oysters which can use natural means to clean the water. However, that is treating the problem. At the end of the day, we need to get to the root cause, which is more water treatment plants. The water treatment plant in north Dublin proposed under the greater Dublin drainage project needs to be brought in faster. The current overflow system in Poolbeg is not large enough and needs to be looked at for swimmers in my area.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-24