"It's terrific, wonderful. We thought we would never see the day." So spoke Ms Karin Dubsky of the environmental group Coastwatch, as the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, co-opened the new Dublin waste water treatment plant yesterday morning.
Earlier the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Dermot Lacey, the other co-opener of the plant, had demonstrated his faith in its workings by swimming from the nearby South Wall, not far from the treatment plant's outflow.
Mr Ahern was not to be outdone, at least in the superlatives, describing the plant, part of the €300 million Dublin Bay Project, as the "most advanced waste-water treatment plant in the world". He said the facility was more advanced than any similar plant in Europe and was "better then the one it was modelled on in the States".
Praising the project manager, the deputy city engineer, Mr Battie White, for his stewardship, Mr Ahern said that while it was "nice to see that we are waiting for the EU to catch up, it is even more pleasurable to beat the US".
He looked forward to seeing Dublin's beaches being awarded Blue Flag status.
A letter was read from the EU Regional Policy Commissioner, Mr Michel Barnier, commending the plant as an example of good use of cohesion funding and a "model of sustainable development".
The plant uses natural methods, light, heat and air, to purify the waste while methane gas from the sewage is used to provide up to 60 per cent of its energy requirement.
The Dublin city manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, recalled the Lord Mayor had dressed as a Joycean character for the recent opening of the James Joyce bridge and had "demonstrated his variety" yesterday by wearing first swimming togs, followed by a suit.
Mr Lacey, whose term of office ends next week, said it was "nice to be going out with a splash" on the delivery of the treatment plant which was "on time and in budget".
