Cars are to be banned for the first time in decades from Dollymount Strand in Dublin Bay next Friday, in a pilot project jointly organised by Coastwatch, the Bull Island Action Group and Dublin City Council.
For at least a day, the beach on Bull Island - a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve - will be free of parked cars, learner drivers and teenagers doing dare-devil hand-brake turns.
Coastwatch co-ordinator Ms Karin Dubsky said there was a need to reconcile recreational uses of the island with its value as a wildlife habitat, as recognised by more "nature protection labels than any other site in Ireland".
The aim of the experimental car-free day is "to raise awareness for the beauty and richness of the island and identify where attention will be needed if the idea was to be extended next year, as the environmental groups sincerely hope".
Ms Dubsky emphasised that it was the result of a partnership with the city council, which had agreed with alacrity to co-sponsor a survey of public attitudes to cars on the beach as well as a study examining their environmental impact.
The survey, which was carried out in June by Ms Amy Siciliano, a Canadian research student, found that 69 per cent of the 406 respondents came to Dollymount by car, 12 per cent by public transport and 10 per cent on foot.
An overwhelming majority (87 per cent) felt that the use of cars on the beach had damaging effects, such as endangering children and other beach users, causing noise or having a negative influence on Bull Island's wildlife.
Asked if they would consider travelling to Dollymount by means other than a car, 34 per cent said they would travel on foot; 43 per cent on bicycles and 47 per cent by public transport - if there was a shuttle bus service to the beach.
Car access to Dollymount was greatly facilitated by the provision in the 1970s of a four-lane road on the causeway connecting the island with the Clontarf seafront. Previously, the only access for traffic was via a narrow bridge at the Bull Wall. In the 1980s, the number of people using the beach was as high as 10,000 per day at weekends. However, this figure fell substantially over the past decade because of public aversion to deteriorating water quality in Dublin Bay.
After the completion next December of the €300 million Dublin Bay Project, including an advanced sewage treatment plant in Ringsend, Dollymount Strand is likely to receive a Blue Flag, with a corresponding surge in numbers.
"The anticipated increase in the number of cars on the beach could pose serious safety concerns to users, contribute to environmental degradation of the island and create serious traffic congestion," Ms Dubsky warned.
She said the creation of a car park on the island would not sit well with the current management plan, which aims to promote the sustainable use of its recreational resources while maintaining the diversity of its unique ecology.
However, she accepts that the availability of parking needs to be addressed; it has suggested that two lanes of the causeway could be allocated for up to 470 parking spaces, if they were arranged in a herringbone pattern. In the meantime, Ms Dubsky said the best option was to coax the public to accept the idea of a car-free beach. And so, on Friday, there will be ecology walks, a seminar on wetlands, children's games and an environmental treasure hunt.
