Sir, – Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has imposed a seven-day ban on the swimming areas of most of Dublin Bay because of pollution from “septic tank discharges, birds, dog fouling and leaks, spills and overflows from sewers”, a litany of pollution which I, and other concerned people, have warned the council about both in correspondence and at meetings with representatives over the past two decades. The current warning is given with a nonchalant sense of how good the council is to warn bathers and how the public should not be concerned because plans will ensure that this does not happen again.
Where else in Europe would an entire bay be designated unfit for swimming at the height of summer? What are the likely consequences for tourism? – Yours, etc,
EOIN O’BRIEN,
Dún Laoghaire,
Co Dublin.