HORTICULTURE students from Teagasc College in Glasnevin recently helped tidy up the beach and salt marsh at Bull Island.
The 12 students, along with Aidan Gray from Clean Coasts, collected over 30 bags of rubbish from the island’s beach, weighing in at 168kg.
The beach had been ravaged by debris brought in by Storm Jake, which hit Ireland’s east coast the day before. This was the 10th storm to hit Ireland in the last four months.
With the increasing amount of storms and the amount of waste it leaves on beaches and coastal areas, student Ursula O’Reilly stressed the importance of frequent beach cleans to protect our coastal biodiversity.
“It’s really the wildlife that is affected,” she explained. “The birds will be starting to nest soon and now they have all that rubbish in the way.
“Some of the birds get their heads caught in plastic rings from cans and they can’t get them off. That’s just one of the problems here.”
The clean-up was carried out in conjunction with Clean Coasts Ireland, which has 460 groups around the country dedicated to the protection of Ireland’s beaches and marine life.
Ursula is happy that more attention is being given to protecting Ireland’s beaches.
“People are more aware now in the last five or 10 years of their own environment and the need to clean up after themselves,” she added.
Daniel O’Connor
