Coastwatch has urged local authorities to ensure that hazardous chemicals are not being used to clean slipways and sea steps.
A report published by the NGO today says that its volunteers were able to clean sample areas in a national survey using brushes, brushes and sand, and brushes and a non-hazardous chemical product.
“As our 2024 survey showed, some sea steps around Ireland are already cleaned using only brushes, leaving the vertical surfaces teeming with life. There’s no excuse for using bleach-based products,”it says.
The 2024 survey in May of that year examined 22 slipways and sea steps in eight counties.
It says that steel brushes and natural fibre brushes were tested side by side.
“ The steel brushes were more effective, but awkward to handle. Volunteers recommend sourcing more ergonomic steel brushes shaped like deck brushes,”it says.
“Sand, especially wet large grain sand, improved the abrasive power when scrubbing off algae and biofilm,”it says.
It reminds local authorities of the 1977 Local Government (Water Pollution) Act which includes a general prohibition on “entry of polluting matter to waters”.
It says that hazardous chemical products are not necessary to keep steps and slipways clear and safe for users.
It has called on the Government to investigate cleaning products for sale in Ireland which contain hazardous chemicals like bleach, advertised as “seaweed remover”.
Safety of piers and slipways was highlighted recently when Mayo fisherman Joachim McNulty died after his car skidded on algae in Belderrig pier.
In a post on social media and an interview on RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline programme, his daughter Joanna called for stronger safety measures and better maintenance of piers, slipways and harbours - not just in Mayo, but across the State.
The incident occurred almost ten years after five members of the McGrotty and Daniels family drowned off Buncrana pier, Co Donegal.
On March 20th, 2016, the family’s SUV slid off the Buncrana slipway, which was covered in algae and with no safety barrier. Four-month old Rionaghac-Ann McGrotty was rescued from the jeep by Davitt Walsh who had come on the scene at the time.
At the subsequent inquest, a Garda sergeant described how he was unable to walk on the lower part of the slipway because it was "slippery with algae".
Coastwatch co-ordinator Karin Dubsky says it will demonstrate slipway cleaning methods, and release results of its slipway and sea steps cleaning experiment opposite Teddy’s Ice Cream, 1a Windsor Terrace, in Dun Laoghaire from 6.30pm this evening, Thursday May 7th.
The initiative is part of a citizen science collaboration with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Sandycove Kayak Club and Bunzl Ireland.
