Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 Dec 2022

Vol. 1030 No. 7

Dublin Bay Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members]

Deputy Ivana Bacik

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I thank the Minister for being here to take the Bill. I appreciate his having given me a commitment in October on the floor of the House on the need for year-round water quality monitoring. That is something I have sought for a long time. I will start by acknowledging his commitment to that and asking if we might have a timeline for when that might be brought in.

I welcome our visitors in the Gallery who are here from a number of groups and who are activists on the issue of water quality and environment in Dublin Bay, particularly those from the SOS Dublin Bay group. I will speak a little more later on the work done by that group. I want to acknowledge the great interest in and support for the issue of the environment of Dublin Bay and the protection of the environment that I have experienced since I first started raising this issue. I raised it first in summer 2021 when I was running in the Dublin Bay South by-election. It was something that had become increasingly apparent to me during Covid and the lockdowns, starting in 2020 when I and many others around the country began to gain a greater appreciation of the need to enhance the environment around our coastlines and in our sea water. Many of us took up sea swimming and while I know it has become a bit of a cliché with the dryrobe-wearing sea swimmers, I plead guilty to being one of those. Jesting aside, Covid gave us a huge and renewed appreciation of the need to put in place proper structures and frameworks for preservation of our natural environment generally and particular our coastline, bay areas, swimming areas and seas. As an island nation, this should have been apparent to us a lot longer ago but perhaps we had disregarded it or neglected it as an issue.

It was in that vein that I first put together a Bill to ensure that that sort of statutory framework would be put in place for the preservation and enhancement of Dublin Bay. We drafted a Dublin Bay Bill. I was thrilled and honoured to be elected to represent Dublin Bay South in July 2021 and after that we worked on the Bill. It is almost exactly 12 months ago, on 7 December 2021, I introduced the Bill in the Dáil on First Stage and then it went into the lottery. This is my first lottery Bill and I was delighted when it was pulled out of the hat to have the opportunity to put it forward today on Second Stage. I hope that the Government will not oppose it. I see the Minister is shaking his head and I thank him. It is positive to hear that he will enable it to proceed because it is a Bill that should get cross-party support from Government and Opposition alike, because it enshrines such an important principle. If passed, it would promote a radical new vision for the protection and enhancement of the wonderful natural amenity on our doorstep that is Dublin Bay. It would establish a statutory Dublin Bay authority charged with preserving the distinctive character of Dublin Bay and protecting its ecology as a coastal resource. In particular, it would improve the amenity of the bay for sea swimmers, sailors, walkers along the shoreline and all of those who want to use the bay area.

We look to establish an authority with its mandate to propose and promote policies and priorities for the protection and enhancement of the environment of Dublin Bay and of the natural habitats and wildlife in and around the bay; to co-ordinate, promote and support strategic planning and sustainable development in and around Dublin Bay; to make recommendations to regulate and control pollution in and around the bay; to promote public interest in and respect for Dublin Bay as a public amenity; and to co-ordinate the activities of public bodies and other organisations and persons in matters connected with the performance of its functions.

Crucially, membership of the authority will come from elected members of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly and others with a special expertise or interest in the future protection of the bay. That co-ordination and that democratic accountability is what we see as hugely important in the establishment of this statutory authority. We are conscious that there is already a non-statutory task force that has a similar role but which has no teeth because it is a non-statutory entity. Over the last year or so in particular, I have become very conscious of the very significant role that Dublin Port plays in the planning and development of the Dublin Bay area. The difficulty there is that Dublin Port should be just one of the stakeholders charged with a role in deciding on the future of Dublin Bay. It should not be the only one and there should be democratic accountability in the authority that has this role in ensuring the preservation of the environment of Dublin Bay.

While environmental protection of Dublin Bay will be a priority for the new authority, it will also have a mandate to improve access and facilities around Dublin Bay and to improve public amenities in the area. The authority would have the aim of creating a better framework for environmental protection, governance and improvement specifically of water quality for all those who use the bay. The idea is that through the creation of this authority, we would have a strengthened framework for the protection of one of our great resources. It is a great resource not only for those of us in Dublin Bay South but all across Dublin. I know that Deputy Ó Ríordáin, representing Dublin Bay North, has as strong an interest in this as I do and, indeed, as any of us who represent coastal constituencies do. All of us in Dublin have strong connections to the body of water stretching from Howth to Sorrento Point. We have strong connections to the bay. It is the first thing we see when we fly in if we are on an aeroplane flying home or if we are in a ship coming in from abroad. It welcomes us. It is where many of us learn to swim, sail or paddle and, of course, it is the location of the opening chapter of the great Dublin novel Ulysses. All of us have this strong connection.

I return to the support I have received and the network of organisations that are supportive of this Bill.

I am very proud to have worked with a large number of people and organisations on this Bill. In this regard, I give particular credit to our local councillors in Dublin Bay South, Mr. Dermot Lacey, Ms Mary Freehill and Mr. Kevin Donoghue. Councillor Lacey, in particular, has been calling for a co-ordinated statutory authority to take over the governance of Dublin Bay for a long time.

I have also worked with the group SOS Dublin Bay, an important local group with a considerable number of supporters that launched some time ago a petition called SOS – Save Our Sea in Dublin Bay. The petition now has more than 20,000 signatures, which again shows the strength of feeling on this issue. The group was formed arising from concerns about water quality in the bay area.

I have also worked with swimmers from the Half Moon Club in Poolbeg. A large group of us swim very regularly off the South Wall. We had a new ladder put up by Dublin Port recently. We call ourselves the Half Moon Mad Yokes, a somewhat ironic name. Swimming is hugely important for people's physical and mental health.

I have also had great support from the local residents' group SAMRA, the Sandymount and Merrion Residents Association, which has been really supportive from the very start. I held a public meeting in Sandymount on 13 September. I was staggered to see how many people came along. They included councillors from Dublin Bay South, Labour Party councillors from Dún Laoghaire and many people with no party affiliation, including local residents and those from further afield, who simply wanted to see a structure put in place for the preservation and improvement of the Dublin Bay area.

To return to the existing structure, or lack thereof, the informal task force currently has no statutory powers. There is, therefore, a lack of co-ordination with regard to the protection and enhancement of the wonderful amenity that is Dublin Bay. Nowhere is this more evident than in the crumbling dereliction of the old Sandymount and Blackrock baths, which anybody who goes up and down the coast will be familiar with. There is such a severe lack of facilities for those who want to use the sea or bay in a more meaningful manner, including those who want to swim but who lack really good facilities. We see good facilities in other countries. In Barcelona, for example, the port has been greatly improved as a public amenity. We see the lidos in London and all sorts of other examples of where much better facilities have been provided and much better use has been made of a city coastline. We should have a lido with public access at George's Dock for all swimmers. That is the sort of initiative that a new authority with statutory powers could deliver. There is an example elsewhere of this sort of statutory model.

On the east coast of the United States, a statutory task force was established some years ago for Chesapeake Bay to preserve it, improve its water quality standards and encourage its greater use as a public amenity. The deterioration and pollution of Chesapeake Bay in the 1980s caused local public leaders to come together to form this task force. That focus saw significant increases in federal funding to preserve the bay and resulted in very much improved water standards and more responsible use of the bay for local communities. That is the sort of community facility we want to see established in and around Dublin Bay. We have some great examples of enhancements. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, for example, enhanced the Dún Laoghaire baths, which are due to open next week. The Clontarf coastal bicycle route has greatly improved facilities but there is no co-ordination, nor is there a structural statutory framework to co-ordinate the preservation and enhancement of the bay area. That is why we are calling on colleagues from all parties in the Government to support this Bill.

My colleague Deputy Ó Ríordáin will speak further about why we need to see this legislation put in place.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

I congratulate my colleague Deputy Bacik on being true to her commitment, at the time of the Dublin Bay South by-election, to introduce this legislation and for dealing with so many local groups. As a fellow baywatcher, I believe this legislation is particularly important for the area I represent, Dublin Bay North.

One of the communities in my constituency is grieving today as a result of the laying to rest of a four-year-old girl this morning. I wanted to acknowledge that on the floor of the House today. All of us here will do whatever we can to provide support to the family in what are absolutely heartbreaking circumstances for them and the school community, which happens to be in my constituency.

To return to the Bill, we feel strongly about Dublin and believe it deserves protection and enhancement. We feel strongly that lessons have to be learned from the various crises we have had over the years. People returned to the bay at the time of the financial crisis. When people had struggles in their lives, they began to reconnect with what was on their doorstep. They returned to the bay during the Covid crisis, when people may have been locked out of other pursuits. They turned to the bay to walk, swim and enjoy the absolutely fantastic facility of their doorstep. Then they began to realise that it may not be tended to, treated or enhanced as well as it should. At my part of the bay, Doldrum Bay, Howth, raw sewage is pumped in. That has been of major local concern in the Howth area for several years. In Clontarf, one can see the conditions in which the swimmers swim. Clontarf is an iconic part of Dublin. All the iconography and paintings associated with Clontarf are about swimming and the associated sense of enjoyment, yet the facilities are just not up to scratch. You do not have to go to Spain to see enhanced facilities; you can go to Portmarnock, in the Minister's constituency, to see how things can be done – in this case by Fingal County Council.

We must not have a mismatch of authorities, from Fingal County Council to Dublin City Council and others, overseeing this incredible facility. Therefore, the Labour Party is suggesting that we need to have a structure over Dublin Bay that will protect and enhance it. In this regard, let me repeat what Deputy Bacik said. We suggest a new statutory Dublin Bay authority. This is not a new idea. As Deputy Bacik has said, it has been advocated for many years by people from many different backgrounds and interest groups. The new authority would be tasked with the promotion of policies for the protection and enhancement of the environment of Dublin Bay and the natural habitats and wildlife in and around it. I can think of how this would enhance my constituency. Another objective would be to promote and support strategic planning and sustainable development in and around the bay and make recommendations to regulate and control pollution, which I have already mentioned, in and around Dublin Bay. In this regard, I have mentioned the Doldrum Bay issue.

This legislation should receive Government support. We do not want to hear the Minister state he is merely not opposing it or that he wants to delay the next Stage for 12 months. If we are serious about Dublin and enhancing both the public realm and citizens' life experience in Dublin, we should heed what we learned from the financial crash and Covid and what we are learning from the current cost-of-living crisis. We see people returning to natural interaction with the bay and its beauty and rediscovering it. The sad thing, however, is that they also rediscover just how poorly it has been protected over the years. I asked the Minister not only not to oppose the Bill but also to support the effort behind it and not have us wait perhaps 12 months for the next Stage.

I congratulate my colleague Deputy Bacik and all those who have been campaigning for so many years to get us to this point, where we might be at the stage of having a statutory Dublin Bay authority.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Darragh O'Brien)

Gabhaim buíochas le Teachta Bacik as ucht an mBille seo. Ní bheidh an Rialtas ag cur i gcoinne an Bhille seo. Ba cheart go mbeadh an Teachta cinnte go mbeimid ag obair le chéile ar an gceist thábhachtach seo. I am grateful to the Deputy for introducing the Bill. I assure her we will not oppose it but work with her on it. I will constructively outline some of the areas I believe we need to work on. Coastal Dublin Deputies who are present are all very familiar with Dublin Bay and love it. I grew up beside the sea. I was a near neighbour of Deputy Ó Ríordáin before he moved to the more salubrious surroundings of Clontarf.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

Marino. How dare you.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

I welcome the representatives from SOS Dublin Bay and others from right across the bay. I have had the pleasure of engaging with them and that is why I wanted to take this Bill myself. I very much appreciate the work of Deputy Bacik and her commitment. We can work together. There are some aspects of the Bill that might be conflicting, and I will outline those. I am not in any way raising them to criticise the legislation as they will comprise an important part of the discussion. The Bill will progress through Second Stage and then it will be up to Deputy Bacik, as ceannaire of Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, to take it to Committee Stage. We will work constructively with the Deputy.

As the Deputy outlined, the Bill comprises the establishment of a new committee in the form of the Dublin Bay authority, with the purpose of preserving the character of Dublin Bay. We all share that objective. The Bill also seeks to make a specific amendment to the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008. I will talk about that in a little more detail, to fully understand the objective and purpose of that, and what impact it may have on the current EU directives. We will need to work through that.

As the Minister with responsibility for this as well as for local government, I recognise and acknowledge that the protection of Dublin Bay is absolutely vital. It is crucial and it is well intentioned within this Bill. Deputy Ó Ríordáin mentioned the issues with regard to untreated sewage in Howth. Thankfully, we are seeing a reduction in that right across the bay. We are seeing the second treatment plant being commissioned in Ringsend and the work being done there to further improve the water quality. I have visited the plant but, yes we need to do more. We have a €6 billion capital plan now for Irish Water that is agreed in the baseline that will allow it to continue with these major projects to ensure that leakage does not happen.

There are some issues. I will be specific about them and maybe we can discuss them further and tease them through on Committee Stage. On amending the bathing water regulations in the manner proposed, I understand why this would be appealing at first glance, and I mean this in a positive way. I am not sure that as it is written would be the appropriate mechanism. I will explain why with a couple of points.

On the establishment of a new body and the function of a new authority, the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly already has sufficient powers to set up such a committee as it sees fit under regulation No. 41 of the Local Government Act 1991, and the establishment order of 2014. To be fair, Teachta Bacik has outlined this. The assembly is required by the same order to "establish a strategic planning area committee in respect of each strategic planning area within the region". The Deputy referred to Fingal. Fingal County Council has set up a specific coastal strategic policy committee, SPC. I say this just so Deputies are aware of this too.

The area identified in the proposed Private Members' Bill overlaps with strategic areas listed in that regional assembly's establishment order. With the establishment of a new authority, this overlapping would have to be dealt with. On the face of it, other aspects of the special committee proposed by this Bill seem to also duplicate the work of the Dublin Bay biosphere partnership. This is important because that partnership was established to facilitate the functions of the UNESCO biosphere reserve designation for Dublin Bay. We would have to figure out how that would work in partnership. The partnership works on: the conservation of biodiversity; cultural diversity; promotion of sustainable development; and support for research, monitoring, education and training. The partnership comprises Dublin City Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council, the Dublin Port Company, Fáilte Ireland and the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

I have another concern around amending the regulation of the bathing water regulations in this manner, but I believe we could work this through and I do not believe it is the intention of the Bill. I am already taking action to protect winter and summer bathing in Dublin Bay, and to be fair I have raised this indirectly with the Deputy. The national bathing water expert group has looked specifically at year-round swimming, which is incredibly popular. I see it myself in Malahide and Portmarnock, at Low Rock and High Rock, and all the way up to Sutton. It is great to see that. I have had the pleasure of engaging with stakeholders in my constituency of Dublin Fingal, and beyond in the other local authorities as well.

Right now, the local authorities are continually investigating potential sources of pollution such as underperforming sewer overflows and missed connections to the surface water drainage system. I will give one example. We had an issue in Portmarnock recently with a pump station that was due to be replaced. Unfortunately, a planning challenge was taken to that. Money had been allocated to replace that pumping station but we cannot do it as it has been tied up in judicial review and we have had continuous problems with the pumping station. That is just one example. I specifically asked Irish Water to study the use and benefits of the additional and extended use of ultraviolet disinfection at the Ringsend waste treatment plant. I have also ensured that water quality testing is undertaken across the bay during summer and winter, and that all of this data is made available online for anyone to access.

This proposal is very well intentioned. I have some apprehension of the approach being proposed, and I will explain why. Under the EU rules, bathing waters are designated where a large number of people bathe and where water quality is suitable. The regulated bathing water season in Ireland runs from 1 June to 15 September. This period for bathing was selected with reference to the World Health Organization guidelines. If we extended the EU directive designated bathing water season into the winter, it increases the potential for adverse results and may unnecessarily put summertime designations in jeopardy. We must be careful about how we do that. Many people I have discussed the matter with would like to see the water quality all year round, and to be able to see the testing all year with the publication of the test results all year round. If we extended the bathing season and if we had significant weather events, there is potential for water run-off to decrease water quality in the winter months. If we extended the bathing season into that period, the calculation of that might actually impact on the summer bathing season as well. Again, this is something we can work through on Committee Stage. As it is written now, it would be a very real risk that the water quality criteria for designation may not be met, with a result that the designation would be withdrawn for the calendar year as a whole, including summer period. None of us wants that. I am aware this is not the intention of the Bill but we would have to work it through.

This is not a matter of more pollution, but it is simply a fact that in the winter there is less sunlight, which means less sunlight to kill the bacteria in the water, and a much higher frequency of heavy rainfall events. Poor winter results would potentially cause bathing waters to be closed or redesignated for the entire year. Again, we would need to work through that piece.

It might also be useful for the Deputy to know that we have a really good team on the water quality piece within my Department, and post this recess maybe we could arrange a specific briefing on some of these matters to see what type of amendments we could work on within it. I am not saying we would agree with them all, but this is genuinely a real concern of mine. Not designating bathing areas in winter does not mean, nor should it, that we cannot or do not take suitable measures to protect those people - and I see them - who are brave enough to get into the cold water on a winter's day. There are people who swim on 365 days per year. I must say that I admire them but I am not one of them.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

Try it Minister.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

That is another story, which I will not go into on the floor of the Dáil.

Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin

The Minister is in enough hot water.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

Indeed. That is a matter of opinion.

I have appointed a research team from University College Cork, UCC, to consider the findings of a recently conducted public survey to help gather the evidence base needed to identify bathers' behaviour and investigate the feasibility of real-time monitoring. That is what I would really like to get to. People could make up their own minds then. If people have the information, they will know where they may go in the winter or may not go, and obviously there will be certain risks from time to time with regard to public health. The research will inform public future policy on out-of-season open water swimming. UCC researchers are engaged in that right now. It is my intention that this research will provide the basis for guidance that allows people who swim during the winter to make informed decisions. This is what they will do about the quality of water outside of the designated bathing areas.

Resourcing also needs to be looked at. Should we move forward with a proposed authority - and I am not saying "no" to that, but I have outlined to Teachtaí here today where we would need to deal with overlaps and deal with existing responsibilities that are there. We would also need to look at how we would fund an authority like this. We could not have the authority set up like this without a dedicated budget and staffing included. It would require the requisite support, proper administration and governance.

In conclusion, I assure Deputies that I am not opposing the Bill but this does not mean I am supporting it. The thrust of the Bill is something we can work on. I have outlined some of the areas around which the Government and I have some concerns. I have some reservations.

I fully respect the commitment of Deputy Bacik and others, including Deputy Devlin, to whom I have spoken many times about this, and all colleagues who contributed this evening. I think we can work together on seeing how we could move this Bill through together and deal with some of the points I have raised.

The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly already has ample powers to establish a committee. We need to look at that. That may be an avenue we can go down, seeing what the assembly will do. The local authorities are a crucial part of that.

For the information of the House, and judging from my engagement with the chief executives and directors of services and water services of the three Dublin coastal local authorities that have bathing areas within them, they are all very supportive of helping in respect of year-round testing and public information, but I would like to get to the real-time piece for people too.

I very much welcome this debate and the work Deputy Bacik has done as well as her long-standing commitment to this issue, which I acknowledge. I will work with her on this. It might be useful if I were to arrange for my officials to meet directly with the Deputy in January to work through some of the issues I have put on the record of the House this evening. I thank the Deputy again.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

I thank Deputy Bacik for bringing forward this important Bill on Dublin Bay. For my part, as a Dún Laoghaire Deputy in one of the areas that adjoin the Dublin Bay area, and as someone for whom Dublin Bay is a precious resource and amenity, I and my colleagues are happy to support the Bill, what it seeks to achieve in putting a joined-up, coherent focus on protecting the bay as an amenity, a precious resource of biodiversity, a swimming area and all the many other attributes it has. I think I can safely say that I say that on behalf of the Save Our Seafront campaign, of which I am chairman, a group that has campaigned for many years on bay- and seafront-related issues in Dublin Bay. I am therefore very glad to support the Bill. Obviously, we would need to tease through all the detail, but I am sure Deputy Bacik is open to that.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

Sure.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

The point is that the general principle is right. We need some body that is genuinely representative of all stakeholders, all those who have a real interest in protecting and enhancing the bay, protecting its biodiversity as an amenity, representing the various stakeholders in the bay area and ensuring that the water quality is the best it can possibly be. That body should have real power and teeth and, critically, should be genuinely representative of all stakeholders. That is the key.

I will flag just a few issues that are important in that regard, some of which have been a preoccupation of the Save Our Seafront campaign for many years. I commend the Save Our Seafront campaign on its work. We were set up in, I think, 2004. It still has a great standing committee that has been very active all those years. Some of its leading members have passed on. I remember the very first meeting we had was in the Dún Laoghaire Christian Institute and was attended by John de Courcy Ireland. He was one of the founding members of Save Our Seafront. He was a mariner, a socialist, a lover of the sea and the harbour, somebody who had campaigned for many years, even before Save Our Seafront was set up, and somebody who should be long remembered for the passion he had for marine and maritime issues. A further commemoration of John de Courcy Ireland is something we should think about in Dún Laoghaire and elsewhere. Bob Waddell, who was, I think, the founding member, or certainly for a long time one of the leading figures, of the Sandycove and Glasthule Residents Association, was on the committee of Save Our Seafront and was a real voice in that campaign on many bay-related issues.

That campaign began over an issue to which Deputy Bacik alluded in her contribution, the Dún Laoghaire baths. The story of the Dún Laoghaire baths is illustrative of both the dangers and the potential of developing our seafront and Dublin Bay amenities. When the campaign was first set up there was, incredibly, a plan, backed by the majority of political parties on Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council at the time, for a 19-storey office block to be built on the site of the Dún Laoghaire Baths. I ask the House to think about that. Save Our Seafront was set up and campaigned on that basis. I remember our first protest. I would say we had about 30 people there when we began.

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

Was that the Deputy's first ever protest? I would have thought so.

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett

No, it was not, but from small things important ones often grow. We built up the campaign against that horrific proposal.

Subsequently, there was another proposal for a ten-storey apartment block. In Dún Laoghaire, just east of the east pier, the entire area from Teddys ice cream to the east pier would now be blocked out from the main road if that proposal had gone forward. At the time, however, we mobilised thousands of people in a huge series of demonstrations, culminating in a massive demonstration on Scotsman's Bay. Christy Moore played at that. We had many other artists and other people up from the Shell to Sea campaign, another sea-related campaign at the time, to speak. That mass movement of people power forced the abandonment of the proposal. That was a huge victory for people power. At the time, the central argument we had to take on was that there had to be public-private partnership. In other words, in the development of the harbour, the sea and the seafront amenities, private capital had to be in there somewhere. The trade-off for getting anything on the seafront would be that some private interest had to make money; therefore, we had to have an apartment block or an office block in order to get a swimming pool or some sort of amenity. We rejected that because we knew that once we accepted that principle, we were effectively privatising the seafront and what we would get would benefit private investors and very wealthy people and would not protect the amenity as a public amenity for all. That is the critical point about Dublin Bay. It has to be an amenity for all. The seafront is an amenity for all. It should never be the province of an exclusive group of people or people who are simply trying to exploit it for money.

It is incredible that we are now 16 or 17 years on and finally, next week, the Dún Laoghaire baths for which we campaigned and got agreement in principle will reopen as a public amenity without apartment blocks or office blocks but, shockingly, still without the pool we campaigned for. They have left a space for it, but there is still no pool. There will be a swimming jetty, and that it is great, and it is far better than privatisation, but it is extraordinary that after all those years we still will not have the swimming pool. Again, I remember at the time when we argued against those mad proposals and said we should have a public seawater swimming amenity, we were told that seawater swimming was completely out of date and that people would swim only in heated pools. That was one of the main objections at the time. How wrong can you be? Seawater swimming has now exploded and is a massive interest. We are nearly there but we still want our pool. The point is that the belief that we had to somehow exploit the seafront for money was what threatened it as a public amenity.

That brings me on to a few other issues. We all know we need offshore industrial wind to have alternative sources of electricity, but it is completely wrong that private, for-profit developers have selected the sites for the development of that rather than a democratic planning process or something like a Dublin Bay authority. The private developers have selected the Kish Bank, a very sensitive area adjoining a UNESCO biosphere, which could very seriously and detrimentally affect Dublin Bay as an amenity from all sorts of points of view.

That should be done in a democratic, planned and environmentally sustainable way. It should not be private developers dictating where wind farms go. I wish to flag that as still being a very important issue for the people of Dún Laoghaire and I suspect all of Dublin Bay.

Dún Laoghaire harbour is another precious resource. Save Our Seafront campaigned for many years for the dissolution of the essentially commercially orientated harbour company and for the harbour to be brought under democratic control, which we eventually succeeded in doing. Recently the old Stena Line terminal building was essentially handed over in the face of our opposition to a private company that wanted to develop a digital hub in the building. We opposed this because we believe it should be developed as a public amenity. We were told in June that the digital hub that was going to be developed by this private company was "shovel-ready" as soon as it was handed over. Not a thing has happened to that terminal building. I have it on reasonable rumour that this private entity is going to collapse and we will be left with a terminal building sitting in the middle of the harbour that should be used to develop a national water sports centre, greater access to the sea and access to that wonderful amenity that is the harbour and the bay.

I want to address the issue of water quality. I thank Melisa Halpin for putting forward motions looking for more testing of water quality about two years ago. The Minister has alluded to key issues in that regard. When it rains, foul water mixes with rain water and sewage goes into the sea on a regular basis because we have not invested in the rehabilitation of a Victorian pipe network in the area. That investment needs to happen. Even when it is upgraded, the sewage treatment plant will not be enough to deal with the capacity that is necessary to ensure the water quality in Dublin Bay and so measures need to be taken urgently in that regard.

Deputy Chris Andrews

I thank Deputy Bacik for introducing this very good Bill. It is also welcome that the Minister is welcoming it and will work with it on Committee Stage. Dublin Bay is hugely important to everyone in this country, not just people living close to the coast. It is an environmental jewel that needs to be protected.

During Covid, many people discovered swimming and how important and healthy is sea swimming. Before Covid, I would not have gone near the coast but for some reason it was probably one of the few activities you could take up during Covid. It is so healthy and really helps your mental health. I find it really good for re-setting the system.

This Bill would see the bathing season of Dublin Bay changed to cover the entire year. It is important to acknowledge that in 2008, our constituency colleague John Gormley set out minimum requirements for bathing water testing under the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008. That was a first, was needed and showed great foresight. It is something we need to build on. Times have changed, things have moved on and we must move on with them. An authority such as that proposed would be worth looking at.

Raw sewage was mentioned. I sometimes go swimming out at Red Rock. I only recently discovered that 40 houses near Howth are spilling sewage into Dublin Bay. Irish Water has indicated that it will be 2025 before a treatment facility is put in place to address the fact that sewage from these 40 homes goes into the bay. Dublin City Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council take a much more proactive approach and test all year round, including several popular swimming sites that are not designated as bathing locations. My understanding is that there are just two designated bathing areas, Dollymount and Sandymount, and four non-designated, Merrion, Shellybanks, the Half Moon and the North Bull Island causeway. Effectively it is almost impossible to swim at the Merrion site. I know the last three tests have been red flags. In the Dublin City Council area, there are only two designated bathing areas and four non-designated bathing areas that are also tested. We need a live dashboard that monitors leaks from the Ringsend treatment plant, which was mentioned. This has a significant impact. Almost every time it rains, raw sewage flows out into the bay and has an adverse effect on the entire bay.

Almost every year, ectocarpus, a foul-smelling algae bloom, is found along Sandymount Strand. It makes Sandymount Strand almost unusable for walkers. All you can say is that the smell is disgusting. It smells like raw sewage. In Dollymount, they scrape it off and pile it high. I have worked with Dublin City Council on this and challenged it about it. It maintains that ectocarpus is a natural algae bloom and of course it most certainly is but the amount of this foul-smelling algae is completely unacceptable. I am convinced and Dublin City Council begrudgingly admits that it has something to do with overflow. The nitrate from the raw sewage feeds the algae so we have vast volumes of algae, which sometimes makes Sandymount Strand unusable. It is something we need to address and acknowledge because I do not believe Dublin City Council has fully acknowledged or is willing to acknowledge openly that this is the case. As has been said, the wastewater treatment plant is already damaging the environment. Even when the works are done to complete the additional capacity, it will just be at capacity for the people it serves. If there is any heavy rain, and living in Ireland there is a fairly good chance of a lot of rain, there is ongoing contamination of Dublin Bay by raw sewage.

The amount of waste from the Liffey, the Grand Canal and the Tolka that flows into Dublin Bay is horrendous. The Government needs to increase funding for projects such as Jimmy Murray's Liffey Sweeper project. It is a positive and constructive project that works and employs local people, including young people who might find it challenging to get jobs in other sectors. This is a really good project. It is a win-win. There are no downsides to this. It cleans the Liffey. I saw that Flossie Donnelly, who does a lot of work around cleaning up the bay, posted a photo of a young seal on a mattress that had been swept into Dublin Bay. It would not take a huge amount of resources to fund the Liffey Sweeper and it is really effective. Dublin City Council has invested in it. It is important to acknowledge the commitment of Dublin Port, which has shown its support for the bay in general and the Liffey Sweeper project.

From more than 11 sampling trips undertaken by the Liffey Sweeper, a total of 4,114 kg of debris was extracted. Indeed, 70% of that waste removed from the River Liffey is recycled. If it was not taken out of the River Liffey, it would end up in Dublin Bay.

We cannot just look at Dublin Bay in isolation. We have to look at the waterways that feed into it, and we must expand projects like the Liffey Sweeper to cover the Dodder and the Tolka rivers and the Clontarf estuary. I know the Liffey Sweeper has been used in Grand Canal Dock to clean it up. In the Liffey and Dublin Bay, tidal movements move waste on, but in the canal areas such as Grand Canal Dock and George's Dock, the waste just sits there. It has to be taken out by hand or net. The Liffey Sweeper does that and the workers do a fantastic job. The Tolka River and Grand Canal Dock are probably two of the most polluted waters in Ireland, according to new research published this year.

The biosphere co-ordinator for Dublin City Council, Mr. Dean Eaton, has been mentioned by other speakers. I met him a number of weeks ago and he gave us a presentation. The Dublin Bay biosphere partnership is overseen by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Dublin Port and Fáilte Ireland. It is a very good initiative. It has to be given teeth, as has been proposed. I know Mr. Eaton goes to great lengths to promote Dublin Bay in terms of education, awareness, tourism, conservation, research, recreation and cultural heritage. He has done a huge amount of invaluable work with very limited resources, and he has published a biodiversity conservation and research strategy for 2022 to 2026. It is most important that all Members participating in this discussion take a look at that and take it in. It is an important guiding piece of work. I underline the need to support projects like the Liffey Sweeper to ensure that the Liffey and Dublin Bay are clean. It is a good community project.

Deputy Cormac Devlin

First and foremost, I thank Deputy Bacik for bringing forward this Bill. Having heard what the Minister said on the collaboration that is going to happen from here on with this, it is important to bring into focus the issues that many of the Deputies have spoken about today and the need for us to work as a collective of Deputies representing all coastal constituencies across Dublin, and indeed those who do not but who have a great affinity with the amenity of Dublin Bay. I acknowledge and thank the SOS Dublin Bay group, among others. My colleague mentioned Flossie and the Beach Cleaners, an organisation that has done fantastic work along the coast, as has Ms Margaret Brown, founder of Sandycove Tidy Towns, and others. My constituency colleague Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned the late Bob Waddell, who passed away, sadly, in January 2019. He was exceptionally good at communicating with all local representatives. His input into various community organisations is missed.

Turning to the Bill itself, I note that section 4 states the authority will "propose and promote policies and priorities for the protection and enhancement of the environment of Dublin Bay and of the natural habitats and wildlife in and around the Bay". As was said and as was alluded to by the Minister, a vast number of water quality notices are issued. Speaking as a representative of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, I can say that it is frequent, particularly at this time of year, that water notices are issued and swimming is prohibited, unfortunately. As others have highlighted, swimming has become very popular. It became popular before the pandemic, but there has certainly been an explosion of interest and use of Dublin Bay since then. Deputy Bacik told us about her swimming group that meets regularly. There are many other such groups, some of which are formal. I know of groups in Sandycove, the Forty Foot, as well as in Killiney, Sandymount and Seapoint in my own area. There are many groups and the interest is there. Obviously, there is huge frustration when we see these poor water quality notices being issued, many of which are avoidable, and the impact they have on swimmers and people.

While I welcome the €6 billion investment, there are still challenges that remain. It is not just purely about the waste treatment centres and the treatment of run-off from roads. There are a whole range of issues. We have spoken about the Dublin Bay biosphere. Mr. Dean Eaton was mentioned by Deputy Andrews. When I was on the council, Mr. Eaton was an employee of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and went on to work as Dublin Bay biosphere co-ordinator. He and his colleagues have a great passion for their work. The work they are doing is extremely commendable and is important for raising awareness. I note that in the proposed Bill the aim is to promote and support the strategic planning and sustainable development in and around Dublin Bay as well as promoting the various benefits of the bay. What is also important about the proposal around the Dublin Bay authority is how that organisation or structure is formed. That will be teased out on Committee Stage. We obviously have to be aware of the EU directives in place. That is known and recognised by all concerned. Ultimately, we want to work collectively with the various volunteers who have a great passion and love for the area and who have really championed this, to give them their due. We also want to ensure that, as political representatives, we bring together the various organisations and agencies involved, of which there are many, as the Minister alluded to earlier. We need to ensure the local authorities and the various agencies are working in tandem with each other to ensure we bring forward some mechanism to improve water quality all year round. I welcome that the Minister is committed to ensuring we get real-time information. That is sorely lacking. At the moment, there are some people who are not aware of the prohibitions that are in place. Swimmers have to search for that information before they go swimming. The information should be readily available. The results of all-year-round testing should also be made public for the various bathing areas.

Deputy Bacik has done a great service by ensuring we, as the Oireachtas, are examining what can be done for Dublin Bay to improve water quality, the benefits of which will be felt not only by those who swim in the but also by the rich biodiversity in our bay. I welcome the Bill and look forward to it progressing to Committee Stage shortly.

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Out of the Members present, I was probably raised closest to Dublin Bay. The contents of the bay used to come into my room every winter when I lived in Sandymount, before the promenade was built. The sea would come over the wall and bring with it the contents of half of the beach, across the road and into the downstairs bedroom. I have great memories of Sandymount strand in particular, the bay in general, and the amenity it was for us as young kids. For most of my young life I did not wear shoes. We would wake up in the morning and go straight across the road to the beach, come summer, winter or whatever. We gathered all the driftwood from the beach to heat the house. I do not know what our neighbours in Sandymount thought of us going about with a trolley collecting driftwood. The bay was not as polluted then, despite the fact that huge mounds of the city dump, which was in Ringsend at the time, fed into it. It was kept closed, but every now and again we found the contents of the city dump on our doorstep because they would end up in the water in a big storm or whatever. We did not have the algae that now stinks the place out for many weeks during the summer. Sometimes there was seaweed rotting, but never to the degree that there was a foul odour in the air on an ongoing basis.

As Deputy Andrews mentioned, that is to do with the waste treatment plant. It has to be; there is nothing else feeding into that water at that level on a continuous basis. When we were younger, we could dig down into the sand and it was not black. Then, for years, it was black under the surface. That was again the contribution of wastewater going into the system. It was in some ways a time of innocence. I do not know what the pollution levels were in the water when I was growing up. It did not do me any harm but the pollution levels now are much worse and much more dangerous because of the pollutants in existence.

There is much more we could do. Any other capital city with as much of a natural habitat on its doorstep and with as much of an amenity would do more. When we think about it, we are looking for sporting grounds and so forth but it is there on our doorstep. It was on my doorstep but it is on anybody's doorstep because Dublin city is not that big. We could do much more in terms of water sports. I am not looking for jet skis up and down the bay. They could be part of it but in a confined area.

When we were younger, I was involved at a very young age in the campaign to save Sandymount Strand when there were proposals to run a motorway across the strand. That was part of the eastern bypass, as it was then known. We were called backwards. We had swimming pools in Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire on the south side. As a young fellow I did not know that much about the north side. We also had the ruins of the Sandymount baths in which one could swim, just about. It was left sitting there and went to rack and ruin. There were swimming pools, however. We could utilise those through the city council or this new authority. We could have seaweed baths and the likes of that. We could do a lot for very little cost to enhance the beauty and usability of that natural resource.

I welcome this Bill; it has to happen. Regardless of whether it happens through this Bill, there must be greater co-ordination and investment in the natural resource we have. I thank Deputy Bacik for bringing it forward. Hopefully, it does not stop at Committee Stage. We must act quickly, in this Dáil or another Dáil, on the treatment of the wastewater and other pollution going into Dublin Bay. We have had far too many of what they call "brown trout" floating around in the water. That discourages people from swimming in our seas around Dublin. We need to get a lot more people back swimming. It is good for our health, the skin and everything else - if the water is clean.

Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Deputy Malcolm Noonan)

I thank Deputy Bacik. I congratulate her on her recent graduation. I commend her on bringing this Bill forward. It is timely and brings together many initiatives around the conversations we have been having within our Department and also with stakeholders such as SOS Dublin Bay regarding the future of the bay.

I thank all the Deputies for their contributions. We all want to achieve the same objective in terms of biodiversity but also with regard to the bay as an amenity. There is an opportunity to move forward in a spirit of collaboration across the House to try to do that.

A number of issues were raised, particularly by Deputy Andrews, with regard to the Ringsend wastewater treatment plant. Separately, a recent Environmental Protection Agency report about the impact of dog faeces on the beach indicated that this is actually impacting on the water quality where people are swimming.

In terms of the positives, there will be a new urban wastewater treatment directive in terms of the catchment element, the next iteration of the river basin management plan and many really good initiatives going on. I take note of the issue of the Liffey Sweeper. There is a biodiversity action fund in the local authorities administered by our Department. Lots of really good work has been done by our Department in partnership with companies like Intel around the Liffey headwaters and the River Rye. We are looking at nature-based solutions to the issue of urban wastewater run-off. We need to start embedding those types of policies in order to look at water quality in the bay as part of a whole-catchment approach rather than in isolation. That is at the end point - the receiving end - of where this is at.

The Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, outlined the Government's response in terms of the impacts of extending the EU designated bathing water season in terms of testing. That could potentially have adverse impacts. We have appointed a research team from UCC to consider the findings of the public survey, to help to gather the evidence base needed to identify bathers' behaviour and to investigate the feasibility of real-time monitoring and communicating. Communication is vital, particularly if there has been a significant rainfall event. It is advisable not to swim perhaps two or three days following such an event. That would be the norm and it is good advice. Communication is a critical part of it, however.

I take the points raised by Deputy Ó Snodaigh. Dublin Bay is something that is culturally important to the people of Dublin. We feel we have an opportunity here to achieve something. Deputy Andrews mentioned my former colleague, John Gormley, who is an avid Dublin Bay swimmer. He can be seen out there regularly. I thank our team in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which is consistently working with stakeholders to try to address these issues.

I thank the Deputies for their contribution to the debate on this Private Members' Bill. Dublin Bay is a unique and precious place that provides a valuable amenity and heritage so close to our capital city. As such, the characteristics of the bay and the amenity it offers must be protected and enhanced. This is beyond question. In fact, it was recognised by UNESCO designation as a UN biosphere reserve in 2015. We have broad agreement on the importance of the bay and, hopefully, on our next steps.

As the Minister set out in his earlier contribution, the Government has been conscious of the evolving and changing uses of the bay and the efforts already under way to protect the bay, its biodiversity and its water quality. The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly and Dublin Bay biosphere partnership are in place. We are testing the water throughout the year beyond the legal requirements and those results are available online. I have already mentioned the research that is under way to investigate the feasibility of providing near real-time monitoring results and communicating even more detailed quality data to the public. This is hugely positive. Again, that has been brought about through collaboration, partnership and perhaps the odd argument as well. We appreciate that; it is all part and parcel of it.

This proposed Bill is well intentioned. The Government will consider it in light of tonight's Second Stage debate. There is an opportunity here. I thank Deputy Bacik for bringing it forward. It is brilliant that we are debating it this evening and taking on board the issues that have been raised across the House by Deputies in terms of the public amenity, the biosphere and the cultural importance of Dublin Bay to the people of Dublin and Ireland. It is critical that we move forward in a spirit of collaboration to try to advance our common objectives in that regard.

Acting Chairman (Deputy Bernard J. Durkan)

I thank the Minister of State. I call the proposer of the motion, Deputy Bacik, to reply to the debate.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

I thank the Minister of State for his very generous closing remarks and, indeed, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, for his very comprehensive response earlier. I absolutely agree with the Minister of State. I would be delighted to move forward with this Bill in a spirit of collaboration as he and the Minister have suggested. Indeed, I already indicated to the Minister that I will take him up on his offer of meeting with officials in January to see how we can make progress with this Bill. I have a good track record of working from Opposition with the Government to ensure the passage of legislation.

I am absolutely open to amending and improving on the Bill, where necessary, to ensure we see the principles it enshrines brought in. I absolutely acknowledge that a great deal of good work is going on to improve and enhance the amenity of Dublin Bay. The core issue here is the lack of co-ordination, the lack of joined-up thinking and the lack of a framework within which the work can continue and within which there will be democratic accountability.

There are four key principles I want to see brought in. They are currently lacking and this Bill would address them. One of them is the need to ensure adequate protection for the environment. That is absolutely huge. Clearly, as the Minister of State and others have pointed out, this is a biosphere.

We have a UNESCO designation for the bay and we need to ensure that there is a proper framework in place to ensure its protection and sustainable development.

Second, we need to ensure it is improved as a public amenity. The Minister of State correctly pointed out the cultural significance of the bay, as did Deputy Ó Snodaigh and others. I do not think anyone but Deputy Ó Snodaigh can claim to have had the contents of the bay come into their bedrooms. However, the stories other colleagues have told of their experiences of Dublin Bay and my experience as someone who swims in the bay every week speak to its cultural significance for all of us. Beyond the public amenity aspect, the bay has a visceral importance.

The third issue is the lack of democratic accountability in the framework for the planning and development of the bay area. The fourth issue, and probably the overarching one, concerns co-ordination and the need for joined-up thinking. My colleague, Dermot Lacey, to whom I referred earlier and who has done much work to improve co-ordination of the Dublin Bay area, has spoken about how nine different statutory agencies currently have responsibility. We know there are four Dublin councils. Others have spoken about the great initiatives taken in Fingal, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and Dublin City Council in respect of the bay amenity, but there is a need for a joined-up co-ordinating body with statutory power that will also have democratic accountability. That is what we seek to address in the Bill in order that the environmental amenity will be protected and the public realm will be too. Deputy Ó Ríordáin spoke eloquently about that. I am happy to work with Government to ensure that we can bring into being a legislative framework to address the four concerns around environment, public amenity, democratic accountability and co-ordination.

I will speak on some of the issues colleagues raised. I acknowledge those who spoke and the great support we have got on a cross-party basis, not only from the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, but also from Deputies Boyd Barrett, Andrews, Devlin and Ó Snodaigh. I acknowledge Deputy Carroll MacNeill, who cannot be here but who previously indicated great support and who has worked with me on the water quality issue. On that issue, section 6 was addressed by the Minister in some detail. That section would seek to amend the bathing water regulations and ensure we have water quality monitoring and data over the whole year. I thank SOS Dublin Bay for working with me on this provision and I acknowledge the visitors in the Gallery and all the activists who have worked on the issue of water quality.

I listened carefully to what the Minister said and have engaged with Uisce Éireann or Irish Water on UV testing. I am delighted about the UCC project that is under way. I was also delighted to hear both Ministers speak of the need for real-time monitoring to ensure informed decision-making for those who wish to swim in the bay. However, those comments illustrate the lack of coherence around the argument against year-round water quality monitoring. It is a little bit like the old, derided policy in the US military, “Don’t ask, don’t tell”. The argument is if we do testing year round and the water quality is poor, we will have to stop people swimming, the water will be designated as unswimmable and we will have to close designated swimming areas. That misses the point. We need to use the data to improve water quality and to change things. It is like telling someone not to go to the doctor because they might get a diagnosis. The point is to use the diagnosis to avail of treatment and engage in treating the water, improving water quality and trying to find out what is wrong with it.

We do not want to swim in unsafe water - nobody does - but we want to swim year-round. I swam three times last weekend. There were huge crowds swimming around the bay. Colleagues have spoken of the huge numbers in their areas now swimming year-round. The reality is the whole of Dublin Bay is now a designated bathing area. My Labour colleague, Martha Fanning, swims at Blackrock DART station and Williamstown, which were not thought of as swimming areas and which are not designated as such. We swim off the South Wall at the Half Moon Swimming and Water Polo Club. It used to be a very underused area but now huge numbers of people use it. The whole year is now a bathing season because so many people have embraced it. It is not just about swimmers. Many others use the bay and would like to see water quality improved. I hear from constituents about dead birds, dead seagulls and even dead foxes on the beach. Others have spoken of dog fouling. It is a serious issue.

There are huge concerns regarding sewage. We have spoken about the Ringsend waste water treatment plant. Not long ago, 300,000 tonnes of sewage sludge was dumped into Dublin Bay every year. Welcome measures are under way to address this, but we still lack a co-ordinated statutory framework to address issues around pollution and water quality and ensure protection for the environment and protection and enhancement of the public realm and the public amenity that is the bay.

That brings me to the structure of the new authority. To address issues the Minister raised, we sought in the Bill to use existing frameworks. The Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly already has power to establish special committees and section 2 of the Bill would establish this statutory authority as a special committee. We are trying to use existing framework and structures to ensure co-ordination is possible. We seek to ensure there will be democratically elected members of the assembly who will be members of the authority and to build on the existing structures like the biosphere partnership to ensure joined-up thinking.

I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State’s colleague, John Gormley, who in 2008 sought to bring a co-ordinated, cross-party, cross-institutional approach to the management of Dublin Bay through his Dublin Bay task force. That was an important initiative but ongoing issues around water quality, lack of enhancement and protection for the public amenity and environment of the bay indicate the need for a stronger overarching body to control the management, development and enhancement of the bay. This need was brought home strongly to me when I was first elected, had a tour from Dublin Port and heard of their great plans for development of lands along the South Wall. I have also seen their work with BirdWatch Ireland, which is welcome. I have met with Covanta, which has a huge stake in the area surrounding Ringsend and Poolbeg. We need to ensure that representatives of the public interest play a central role in planning what happens with Dublin Bay, not just at Poolbeg and Ringsend in my constituency or Sandymount and Merrion but all around it. The Bill refers to Dublin Bay from the Baily Lighthouse to Sorrento Point and that overarching control, management and co-ordination needs to be brought about through a measure like the Dublin Bay authority.

I look forward to working with the Minister of State, his colleagues in government and colleagues cross-party to ensure this Bill or the principles in it are enshrined in law. I thank all the activists. I have mentioned SAMRA and SOS Dublin Bay but there is also the seal sanctuary, the Commodore's in Dún Laoghaire, Flossie and the Beach Cleaners, the Coastal Concern Alliance and many more who have worked hard on a voluntary basis to enhance Dublin Bay. I thank my political advisor, Chloe Manahan, who has worked closely with me on this, and Finbarr O’Malley, our drafter, who worked on the text of the Bill.

It is such an important principle that we would see a co-ordinated statutory body with a democratic legitimacy and accountability, as well as the central responsibility for the planning, protection and enhancement of Dublin Bay. For far too long, we have talked about this. John Gormley spoke about it in 2008 and tried to work on it. We now need to see a whole-of-government approach, working with partners in opposition, to ensure future protection and enhancement of Dublin Bay. This Bill represents a necessary first step to change how we treat and see Dublin Bay, to stop us taking it for granted and to realise its remarkable potential, not just for all of us but also for future generations.

I thank colleagues for their great support. I also thank our visitors in the Gallery for their activism and work. I look forward to working with others to ensure that this Bill becomes law.

Question put and agreed to.

Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 6.10 p.m. go dtí 2 p.m., Dé Máirt, an 13 Nollaig 2022.

The Dáil adjourned at 6.10 p.m. until 2 p.m. on Tuesday, 13 December 2022.