Boat owners demand action on restaurant grease
Boat owners whose vessels are moored in the Claddagh are urging the authorities to bring the full weight of the law against food businesses who they claim are illegally dumping grease down the drains.
The discharge of oils, fats and greases into the city’s waterways has become a particular problem in recent years in the Claddagh basin with the influx of restaurants, pub kitchens and takeaways across the west end.
Every summer, it becomes a terrible eyesore on a very busy thoroughfare for tourists who head down to feed the swans and do an extended walk along the Prom.
It also causes much damage to as many as 30 boats moored in the area. The substance is destroying the gel finish on boats and contaminating ropes. It is also creating a real hazard on the steps for people going out and in from the boats, explains local boat owner Michael Coyne.
“We’re dealing with this for years. The Council told us that once the sewage system on Lower Dominick Street was upgraded that the problem would disappear, but it didn’t,” he complained.
“It’s being dumped into the storm drains which run into the canal. This is actual grease being poured into ordinary drains when there are regulations there which say this stuff should be collected as a waste product.”
When the council installed a boom across Dominick Street Bridge near McGuire’s Daybreak Shop to collect rubbish, the true extent of the scum was clearly visible.
However, when it kept backing up the boom was removed to the Claddagh Bridge, where it can flow out to sea.
Over two years ago, the council announced it would implement a discharge licence system, whereby businesses involved with food would have to comply with regulations about how they deal with waste grease, including installing grease traps to stop them going into the sewer system.
However that plan was abandoned and instead the council handed over responsibility to Irish Water, which is now implementing what is called the Fats, Oils Greases Regulation and Trade Discharge Project.
For more on this story, see this week's Galway City Tribune