Surfers visiting Bundoran, Co Donegal, for an international competition have highlighted the problem of water pollution caused by sewage being pumped into the sea.
The town is hosting the Quicksilver Masters Surfing Competition and has been offered the opportunity to host the World Surfing Games in 2004.
Mr James Hendy, of Surfers Against Sewage, said he believed the sewage problem could affect the success of any competition held in the town.
"I have smelled and tasted some pretty horrible stuff out on the peak this week," he said.
Surfers Against Sewage is a Cornwall-based organisation which has campaigned for EU legislation on water quality to be extended to water users other than swimmers and to coastal areas outside specific bathing waters.
"If Bundoran hosts the World Games and surfers come here and get sick, that would be very bad for businesses and for tourism in the area," he said. Storage tanks in the bay were not large enough and sewage was overflowing into the sea.
Mr Hendy said he welcomed that Donegal County Council was planning an upgrade of the sewerage system in Bundoran but he did not believe this went far enough. Primary treated sewage is going into the sea but the planned £25 million upgrade will introduce secondary treatment, which will involve the sewage being biologically treated.
Mr Hendy said he accepted that secondary treatment eliminated most germs but he believed there was a need for tertiary treatment, which involves ultraviolet disinfection.
Mr Hendy also raised the problem of untreated sewage going into the sea at nearby Tullaghan, Co Leitrim. He and members of the Irish Surfing Federation examined the area yesterday. "We saw a pipe going into the sea was broken but when we lifted a couple of rocks, there was literally raw sewage spurting knee-high from the rocks, with condoms and tampons leaking directly into the rock pools," he said.