IRISH people regard sensitive coastal wetlands as nothing more than wastelands, Ms Karin Dubsky, of Coastwatch Europe, has said.
Ms Dubsky, who was hosting a seminar in Dublin yesterday, also criticised the Government for the delay in publishing the proposed national draft plan for coastal zone management. EU-funded port developments were one of the greatest threats to this fragile environment, she said.
"In 1995, the European Commission adopted a wetland policy, and yet we still don't have a department that deals with it. Yet a recent survey among scientists has shown that wetlands are the third-most threatened area, in terms of negative structural development," Ms Dubsky told The Irish Times.
Apart from the impact of landfill sites on coastlines, there was also an urgent need to control structural development, she said. There were plenty of examples - the impact of the Waterford port relocation on the fishing village of Checkpoint represented a "national scandal".
Speaking at the seminar, Mr Ray McGrath, of the Cheekpoint Task Force, outlined the siltation resulting from the construction of four groynes, structures to divert tide and river flow, at right angles to the Waterford shoreline, as part of the new Bellview port plan.
This had effectively blocked access to Cheekpoint pier for half of every 12 tide-hour cycle, and posed a serious threat to the fishing and tourist-based economy. A national protection designation for the wetland/salt water marsh upstream of Cheekpoint was also urgently needed, he said.
The impact of another new development - the Lee Tunnel in Cork - was outlined by Ms Niamh O'Keeffe, of Cork Environmental Alliance (CEA), who said developers could no longer afford to ignore community and environmental concerns. Disposal of dredge spoil at sea was the "easy option", but no serious consideration was given to the impact on fishing communities.
Mr David Healy, Green Party councillor, lawyer and waste consultant, told the seminar that the case of Ballealy landfill on the Rogerstown estuary in north Dublin reflected the general lack of commitment to a sustainable waste management plan.
Since the closure of the dump at Dunskink in 1996, Ballealy now accepted up to 75 per cent of Dublin's waste. The dump's leachate and separate sewage outfall posed a serious threat to wildlife along the estuary, he said.
Relocating landfill sites was not the answer. There was an urgent need to implement principles of sustainability, on the "polluter pays" principle.
Co-sponsored by the European Commission Environment Directorate, yesterday's seminar was convened as part of the HARD project - an acronym for Habitats Asking not to be Reserved for Development.
Attending the seminar, Ms Aine Ryan, of Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), said she had been appointed as an environmental officer to meet some of the concerns over shellfish developments.
Coastwatch Europe has initiated a charter for sound practice on structural development, which will be agreed at international level next month. A book of 100 case studies from across Europe, including Ireland, is also due to be published this summer.
