COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, November 13, 2023

QUESTION NO.17

QUESTION: Councillor D. Ó Brádaigh

To ask the CEO to outline what plans there are to expand the Integrated Wetlands Construction programme to all SDCC regional parks as an important response to mitigate and now adapt to the continuing decline in Ireland's biodiversity.

REPLY:

Three recently constructed integrated constructed wetlands (ICW's) were built as part of the Dublin Urban Rivers LIFE (DURL) project fulfilling a water treatment, biodiversity and construction demonstration purposes. With regard to the construction demonstration purpose, they will be used by South Dublin County Council to show private developers the ICW build possibilities of various shapes and sizes in South Dublin County, and expand on the information contained within the Council’s Sustainable Drainage Explanatory Design & Design Evaluation Guide 2022. The wetlands are also supporting the Council’s Green Infrastructure Strategy embedded in the Development Plan 2022-2028. A fourth ICW will be constructed as part of the Poddle Flood Alleviation Scheme which will commence construction in Q1 2024.

These will serve as best practice models for SDCC departments considering building an ICW as a separate project or to compliment a wider project brief, they will act as a template for the entire process of ICW building from site identification, Part 8 planning preparation and attainment, through to build and completion.

The DURL project will come to a close at the end of May 2024 and will be followed by an appraisal of the benefits of all aspects of the project including the ICWs and their performance under multiple headings including biodiversity at which stage opportunities to build additional ICWs can be considered. In the meantime, the Council will be progressing a fourth ICW build as part of the Poddle Flood Alleviation Scheme in 2024.