All Councillors representing the West Clare Municipal District and TDs / Teachta Dála for Co. Clare are invited to attend this meeting.
Each elected member will receive a personal invitation.
On 3rd January 2024, Uisce Éireann submitted a planning application to Clare County Council for development of a new Pumping Station at Victoria Park, Kilkee and construction of a new Sewage Treatment Plant on Dunlickey Road, part of the much-loved Kilkee Cliff Walk.
Uisce Éireann refers to the Sewage Treatment Plant as: “Wastewater Treatment Plant (WwTP)”
Submissions on the original planning application closed in early February 2024.
There were 89 submissions to Clare County Council which registered major concerns about Uisce Éireann’s proposed Sewage Treatment Plant. In past years, there have been regular summertime beach closures due to sewage spills into the Victoria Stream resulting in the loss
of Kilkee’s Blue Flag.
On 26th February 2024; Clare County Council requested further information from Uisce Éireann.
Clare County Council received a reply from Uisce Éireann on 16th August 2024, and the Council says: “This further information has been deemed significant and the applicant has been requested to publish a notice in an approved newspaper.”
The “further information” is now available on Clare County Council website for public viewing under Planning File No. 2460002
Therefore; the planning application is now open, once again, for the general public to make fresh submissions on the plan proposed by Uisce Éireann.
The closing date for submissions is Thursday, 3rd October 2024.

It costs €20 per submission and it may be easily done online, by personal delivery to the offices of Clare County Council in Ennis, or by post. If a submission was made before the February 2024 deadline, you may now make an additional submission at no extra cost by 3rd October.
It is fully understood that a Sewage Treatment plant is required to comply with European Regulations as Kilkee is highlighted as one of the towns in Ireland still releasing Raw Sewage into the sea. Over thirty years ago a Tertiary WwTP / Sewage Treatment Plant was proposed
for Kilkee.

Uisce Éireann are proposing to install a lower standard Primary Treatment Plant which only filters out solids and will still release raw effluent into the sea.
Local opposition is based on Uisce Éireann’s failure to consult the community. The majority of people believe that the proposed site location is wrong and not sympathetic to the landscape.
For your reference: see The Clare Champion, Friday, 16th August 2024, on Page No. 3:
(See below).

• Headline – “Kilkee Cliff Walk is Ireland’s favourite”

• Paragraph No. 2 – “The Kilkee Cliff Walk was recently named by Tripadvisor as the attraction with the highest number of ‘excellent’ reviews of any Irish tourist site.”
Alternative locations have not been considered. Local community proposals have not been afforded any hearing by Uisce Éireann due to the lack of consultation.
Opposition is based on fundamental flaws in current proposal.

• The current offering is for Primary Sewage Treatment only – and NOT for the highest
level of Tertiary Sewage Treatment.
The four stages of Sewage Treatment are known as:
Preliminary, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Treatments.

• The population numbers, on which Uisce Éireann bases its design decisions, takes no account of the vastly higher numbers resident in Kilkee during the peak season of July and August each year. The population figures used by Uisce Éireann are based on the 2016 & 2022 Census which were recorded in April and off-season.

• Simply; this WwTP / Sewage Treatment Plant is doomed to FAIL.

• What is the basis for FAILURE?

Like many towns around Ireland; the sewage generated locally is blended with the storm water drainage system into one combined pipe. When it has rained for days, and the tourist season is at its peak, the system will not be able to cope and failure is inevitable.

• Why will it FAIL?
1) When the combined incoming raw sewage & rainwater exceeds the capacity of the redeveloped Pumping Station, and the new larger storage tanks.
Then, the pumps can no longer cope with the volume of sewage & rainwater, so it has to go somewhere.
The “safety relief valve”, (as per Uisce Éireann’s design), is to empty the overload of Raw Sewage & Rainwater out into the Victoria Stream, where it will all flow onto Kilkee Beach.
2) Once more; the bathing waters will be contaminated with Raw Sewage!
3) The proposed Pumping Station has been designed by Uisce Éireann so that
when a failure occurs it will overflow; sending Raw Sewage onto Kilkee Beach.
4) In the event of equipment / electrical failure at the Pumping Station, the
system design fallback position is to also allow Raw Sewage flow out onto
Kilkee Beach

• Local people, holiday home owners, tourists from near & far and investors do not want any more Kilkee Beach Closures because of RAW SEWAGE on the beach & in the bathing waters.

• The redevelopment of the present Pumping Station at Victoria Park does not take account of its impact on the immediate community living around it.

• The proposed WwTP / Sewage Treatment Plant on Dunlickey Road will destroy Kilkee’s “Jewel in the Crown” – our Kilkee Cliff Walk. It will cause irreversible damage to one of the “key” tourist attractions at Kilkee and on the Loop Head Peninsula.

• Kilkee Cliff Walk is used by thousands of people every day, especially during summertime. It is a circular five-kilometre loop walk using Dunlickey Road, the West End and along the Cliffs.

• The planting plan for the proposed Sewage Treatment Plant will not screen this industrial plant from view on Dunlickey Road.

There are no trees here and the landscape is wide open and windswept. When you are on the height of the Cliff Walk, and look towards the Shannon Estuary, you will be looking down into the Sewage Treatment Plant.

• It is safe to predict that Uisce Éireann’s promises around sewage smells, noise levels & vermin control will not be realised. There is ample evidence of Uisce Eireann’s failures at other WwTP / Sewage Treatment Plants around the country.

• After thirty plus years of promises for a proper Sewage Treatment Plant; it is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Kilkee to get this right.
Uisce Éireann must not be allowed destroy our magnificent KILKEE CLIFF WALK.
Uisce Éireann must offer an Engineering Solution that does NOT allow any overflow into the Victoria Stream; sending RAW SEWAGE out onto Kilkee Beach.
We urge everyone for whom Kilkee holds a special place in your heart, to HAVE YOUR SAY, by making a Submission to Clare County Council before the closing date on Thursday, 3rd October 2024.
Reminder: A copy of The Clare Champion coverage on 16th August 2024 is provided on the following page.

Finally; we would highlight the coverage by Ms Cathy Halloran, Mid-West Correspondent, RTÉ
• Published on 26th February 2024, the coverage includes a one-minute and 56-second report as broadcast on RTÉ News.

• The relevant link to the RTÉ coverage is as follows:
https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2024/0225/1434212-kilkee-wastewater/

Representing: Concerned Kilkee Residents
Tom Boland, Kevin Heenan, Brian Melican, Martin Busher, Mary Arthur & Joseph McCloskey
Please see The Clare Champion article.