PLANNING APPLICATIONS

Fast facts  Raw Sewage outflow occurs across from St Albans/Strand Road 10-12x per year Discharge pumps respond to high water level to avoid flooding at St Albans residential area Raw Sewage released is unfiltered with condoms and sanitary products left deposited on the beach amongst faeces Creates an immediate Public Health Hazard to Dublin Bay Sandymount & Merrion Beach Sandymount & Merrion Beach is used by 100s of walkers, pedestrians per day There is no/inadequate public signage of the hazard There is no clean-up operation triggered by DCC or Irish Water It can take + 2 weeks to clean up after each event Correspondence has been formally exchanged with DCC CEO on incidents dating back to 03/06/2022 c/w photographic evidence of the extent of beach erosion and evidence of health hazard and lack of clean-up A complaint to EPA was formally filed 03/11 2022 with all back-up and Irish Water formally closed out the complaint 16/11/2022 The event of 11/05/2023 carries video evidence of the flow and the aftermath on the beach, widely reported on the media Irish Water are responsible for this system BUT carry no responsibility for Clean Up DCC do not accept responsibility for clean-up below the High Water line and will only clean-up on a limited discretionary requested basis on the Strand There is clear acceptance by our agencies of Dublin City Council and Irish Water of the creation of a Public Health Hazard with no effort made to provide signage or clean-up services It is asserted that Ireland’s agencies including the EPA have become normalised to the acceptance of this status on Ireland’s capital city beach – and are prepared to leave the public at risk to this hazard Notes from meeting with Uisce Eireann, Deputy James Geoghegan TD and SAMRA , 4 TH February 2026 Attendees Deputy James Geoghegan TD SAMRA: David Turner - Chair Karl Anderson - Strategic Communications and Media UISCE EIREANN Steve Seymour – Head of Asset Management Ted O’Reilly – Asset Planning Senior Manager Michael Goss – Wastewater Network Manager AGENDA 1. Extent of Current BioHazard · Number of people, children and pets exposure on the city beach · Raw sewage to beach, media : video, pictures (as per SAMRA website) · Dublin Bay (UNESCO Biosphere and the only associated with a capital city) a previous Blue Flag beach - now the 2nd worst performing in the state 2. What is the Plan to STOP the pollution at St Albans outfall ? Opportunity : Inclusion into the promenade flood alleviation scope 3. Immediately Available Actions to Uisce Éireann Signage Clean-up 4. As the Accountable Agency - WHAT IS Uisce Éireann's Commitment Project Timeline 3 decades on MEETING KEY POINTS James Geoghegan invited SAMRA to overview the context of why we’re here after his challenge to Uisce Eireaann (UE) Sean Laffey in the Dail PAC on 6th November SAMRA overviewed key context points commenting on UE opening slide of a St Albans flooding. The correct priority is in place to pump to the beach rather than flood residential home HOWEVER, the city UNESCO beach has become a toxic place and people, children, dogs are routinely getting sick AND this has been going on for 3 decades - what is UE plan ? UE spent 45 minutes explaining from an engineering perspective, why this a legacy issue and a very complex problem to resolve: development of the hydraulic model drainage area plan (DAP) needed to inform feasibility assessments and decisions: 2 years; due to be complete in 2026 for St Albans area For a 1:5 year storm, containment of St Albans upstream drainage area 45,000 people = 17,000m3 tank (9 Olympic swimming pools) and no identifiable storage site However, to set expectations there are 40-50 DAPs in progress across Ireland Also, to get through to a Capital Funded Plan - minimum 7-10 years (and probably more given the reference of the Blanchardstown plan which took 5 years on a greenfield site outside the complexity of Dublin) UE overviewed what they have/are doing with respect to St Albans: weir to reduce backflow improved pump system at Aylesbury improved telemetry for pump activation annunciation pump performance monitoring to avoid breakdowns DCC beach clean-up service to UE at present and staff will transfer to UE by the end of 2026 - increasing transparency UE response Priorities : response < 4hours for internal flooding to certain premises response < 12 hours for flooding to gardens & streets, etc UE confirmed that the above are all incremental and in reality we have minimum 7-10 years to wait with current status quo, to get to a solution - where residents meanwhile have to cope with toxic conditions We asked questions and discussed : possibility of running an extension pipe across the beach to eliminate the risk whilst engineering is underway in parallel - UE - planning permissions/delays incorporation of a local break tank: volume needed too high and space restrictions incorporation of a line into the upcoming flood defence works - will be explored with OPW and Jacobs exertion of external fines from EU - as with Cork impending, not clear this will make a difference exertion of political pressure - unclear In view of the above, we asked UE to consider how to minimise risk to people whilst the engineering is developed: Communication - there is currently NONE Signage - what is in place is INADEQUATE Clean-up - there is currently LITTLE OR NONE SUMMARY UE presented the complexity of the problem that they have inherited and are working through from an engineering perspective UE did not present any options of what they can do to mitigate risk to people UE did not make any commitments or present any mitigation plan at this meeting BUT they undertook to now consider mitigation options David Turner Chair SAMRA