In the drink

Sure what else would you be doing but dipping your feet in the water on an April morning?

A picture-perfect sunny morning last Thursday and Patricia McKenna, David Healy and Bronwen Maher joined me in the water after the photographer's invitation to get our feet wet. John Gormley's been around the block a bit longer than the rest of use and he wisely declined their request that he go for a paddle, and remained behind the cameras, although he had almost ended up in the briny after losing his balance for a moment on the old lifeboat slip.

That's the Granuaile behind us. She's the main vessel that the Commissioners of Irish Lights use to service the lighthouses and ships around our coast. I was one of the Commissioners for three years back in my Dublin City Council days. The Commissioners of Irish Lights were established by the Dublin Port Act 1867, but derive their origin and constitution from an Act of the Irish Parliament of 1786 for developing the Port of Dublin. The Commissioners of Irish Lights are a statutory body of 21 members, with perpetual succession, to provide and maintain Aids to Navigation around the coast of Ireland.

Our photo-shoot in Dun Laoghaire was to publish the Dublin Bay Bill, a project that I've been working on for the last year or so. I held a 'Dublin Bay Futures' Conference in the Kingston Hotel here in Dun Laoghaire last Spring, and the Bill was inspired by those discussions. Dublin Bay is under pressure from high-rise building proposals at the moment, but while all this construction is taking place, the Baths at Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire lie derelict.

We're proposing a new Dublin Bay Authority that would properly manage the Bay on behalf of the people of Dublin and Dun Laoghaire. Last Thursday at our launch in the Kingston we stated that this new Authority could carry out the following activites:

1. Regenerating the Baths around the Bay such as Dún Laoghaire, Blackrock and Clontarf.
2. Ensuring that the proposed ‘S2S’ (Sutton to Sandycove) walking and cycle route becomes a reality.
3. Providing greater access to the water for anglers, swimmers and boat users.
4. Protecting low-lying coastal areas from the risks of flooding due to climate change or natural events.
5. Developing the South Docks and Poolpeg Peninsula as high amenity residential areas as the first phase of Dublin Port’s eventual removal from the City Centre.
6. Creation of a Marine Park initially in the area between Sandycove and the East Pier in Dún Laoghaire.
7. Extending the Luas into Poolbeg Peninsula.
8. Utilising the heated water from the Poolbeg Power Plants to provide district heating for apartments along the Liffey.
9. Ending the discharge of raw sewage into the Bay from the small number of remaining outlets while also resolving the capacity and odour problems at the Ringsend Plan.
10. Phasing out the parking of cars on the beaches of Bull Island.

Ireland's Coast Zone Management Plan is still only in draft format, ten years after it was first produced. Our proposed Dublin Bay Authority would ensure that the Bay is better managed for future generations. It was great to get our Bill published, and it provides a taster for what the Greens would like to achieve if we're in Government after the election in a few weeks time.