Most of the wastewater in south-east Dublin is collected at the West Pier pumping station and then pumped under the sea to Poolbeg for treatment. There is an attenuation tank at the West Pier to handle overflow because during high rainfall events, run-off means that there is more water there than can physically be pumped to the pumping station. The attenuation tank at the site is 70,000 cu. m, so it is huge, but when there is an awful lot of rain, it is not big enough. When it fills up and there is no room in the tank to pump the water in, it literally overflows into Dublin Bay. I welcome the nitrates directive, which may be unrelated, but it places a greater obligation on us to deal with water quality issues. This is a water quality issue in Dublin Bay. We eat fish from and we swim in Dublin Bay. This is a major problem. The solution is the construction of a second attenuation tank at the Gut at the back of the West Pier in Dún Laoghaire. Is that something we could look forward to, particularly as it will solve a major water quality problem?

I thank Deputy Ward for raising this serious issue regarding water quality in Dún Laoghaire and Dublin Bay and more broadly. We have made a lot of progress on water quality in recent years. We are investing more now through Uisce Éireann. On foot of the Deputy raising this issue, I will speak directly to Uisce Éireann in respect of it. We have provided a lot of additional funding to Uisce Éireann for the years ahead. I will certainly ask that it considers the point he has made about the need for a further attenuation tank. I will come back to the Deputy directly.