Jellyfish were the final nail in the coffin of our summer

‘JUST when you thought it was safe to go back in the water…’

So went the tagline for ‘Jaws 2’, the equally riveting sequel to Steven Spielberg’s 1975 classic, two films that made us children of the ‘70s too terrified to even dip our toes into the sea.

Now we’re all grown up and know that great white sharks are highly unlikely to visit our shores anytime soon. 

But there are new reasons this summer to be afraid – very afraid – of swimming off the Dublin coast. And, quite frankly, mechanical sharks are the least of our worries.

If you fancy taking a dip in waters polluted by raw sewage, then take a trip out to North County Dublin where the magnificent South Beach in Rush has been rendered unusable for the past couple of seasons. Locals have been informed that the disgraceful practice of sewage being discharged into the sea will end in 2018  when the waste will be diverted to a new treatment plant in Portrane. 

Irish Water, which is tasked with overseeing the project, recently announced that it was progressing the €9.7 million plan. Sounds promising, but in the meantime, those of us who live on the doorstep of this otherwise wonderful amenity will have to find another beach if we want to swim.

However, even this option proved difficult this summer, with beaches in Balbriggan, Skerries and Portmarnock (which had just received a Blue Flag) all closing temporarily due to technical problems at sewage pumping stations. I’d say some of the lifeguards on duty were fierce bored.

The situation wasn’t quite as bad on the Southside, although the publication of a study by DCU revealed ‘legacy’ pollution issues from the bad old days when there were sewage outfalls off the coast of Dún Laoghaire – a practice which has long ended. 

As if things couldn’t get any worse for Dublin swimmers, a number of beaches were effectively closed on both sides of the city thanks to the arrival of the dreaded Lion’s Mane Jellyfish, who popped up across the coast like politicians at a funeral. Warning signs were erected at popular spots such as Sandycove, while in Skerries there were reports of dogs becoming extremely ill after being stung by jellyfish.

To escape from it all, we retreated to the cleaner, calmer waters of Wexford where one of our family was stung by a nasty weever fish. 

All things considered, perhaps ‘Jaws’ wasn’t as scary as an Irish summer.