Taoiseach agrees on need to prevent ‘toxic goo lagoon' in Wexford
Lady's Island Lake, the largest saltwater lagoon in Ireland, has turned green due to the level of algae pollution from nutrient run-off.
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The lagoon surrounds Our Lady's Island, which is an area of pilgrimage, and is a habitat for wildfowl, that means it has legal protection.
In January, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report said that Lady's Island Lake was 'severely degraded' due to overflows of nitrogen and possibly phosphorus, commonly used as agricultural fertilisers.
The EPA said Lady's Island Lake 'exemplifies' the problems involved in managing Irish lagoons and said, even if the run-off issue was addressed, nutrients in the lagoon's sediments could continue to affect its ecology.
Green Party leader and former minister Roderic O'Gorman said a different approach was needed to resolve the pollution problem, which he said dates back to the 1980s.
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'The damage has been building here for four decades, and the existing processes, they just haven't worked,' he told the Dáil.
'In place of a thriving ecosystem, we're going to end up with a toxic goo lagoon.
'If we fail to act, we don't have far to look to see what's next for Lady's Island.
'Lough Neagh is already described as toxic due to the algal bloom that it experiences each summer.'
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He quoted an author of the EPA report Dr Cilian Roden who said that the lagoon's 'glow can be seen from space'.
'Now Taoiseach, it's important we don't frame this as blaming farmers, but the impact of nutrient runoff at this significant site is absolutely clear.
'But so too are the recommendations from the EPA on how we can save Lady's Island Lake: enforce existing regulations about agricultural nutrients entering the lake, help farmers change their practices, improve the buffer zones around the water sources flowing into the lake.'
An aerial view of Ireland's largest saltwater lagoon, Lady's Island Lake (Niall Carson/PA)
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that it should be 'a priority to reverse the pollution' of Lady's Island Lake.
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He said an action plan was needed, which 'may involve financial intervention' to enable such a plan.
He said as the problem involves nutrient overflow into the body of water, the solution would have to involve the neighbouring farmers and all other stakeholders involved.
He said Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon, Minister for the Environment Darragh O'Brien and Minister of State Christopher O'Sullivan would be asked to pull together a plan on the issue.
'There are other projects that farmers have cooperated in, the Burren being a very good example, where we've got very good outcomes,' Mr Martin said.
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'Because it's not satisfactory that you would have that ecological devastation at such an important site for a range of reasons.'
Asked whether he wanted the 'unique' habitat to become a 'dead zone for nature', Mr Martin replied: 'I certainly don't.'
He said in the last number of years, staff numbers at the National Wildlife Park Service had doubled, lands had been bought to become national parks and there is now a biodiversity officer at every local authority.
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