Rosslare Municipal Labour Local Area Representative Damien Corish says that a recent Environmental Protection Agency Report is a wake up call to action so as to protect not just a nationally significant habitat like Our Lady’s Island Lake but also farming in the area.
Mr Corish was responding to the EPA report which said that artificial enrichment of the lake due to agricultural run off is responsible for a collapse in biodiversity and habitat.
Mr Corish says “Our Lady’s Island Lake is nationally unique because it is a salt water lake. “This allows some bird species to feed and hatch in a protected location. The potential damage to habitat is only surpassed by the fines that Ireland will be liable for under EU law. Over the past number of years I have heard reports that the water during warm weather and in Autumn can be green. Our Lady’s Island is a shallow lake so the increase in global temperatures is further impacting on oxygen levels causing further environmental damage.”
Mr Corish also said “Doing nothing is not an option. This report is a wake up call. All we have to do is to look at Lough Neagh and how disastrous the failure to intervene to protect habitat and water quality over many years can be. Our Lady’s Island is a valuable ecological and leisure amenity. In a county that relies on our tourist product we can’t have the word to go out that water is polluted and that habitats are being destroyed. It is clear that time is not on our side if environmental catastrophe is to be avoided.”
Speaking to South East Radio News, Mr Corish said “There needs to be a single cabinet minister in the new government to take responsibility for the environment and pollution. In the last few years responsibility for heritage and the environment was spread across a number of government departments. I think that the focus in environmental enforcement has been elsewhere. I am calling on Wexford County Council to make contact as a matter of immediate priority for my local area with the new Minister and action to be taken to avert an environmental meltdown in Our Ladys Island.”
