In the last fortnight the Irish Seal Sanctuary, ISS, based at Garristown, Co. Dublin received calls for a ‘stranded whale, dolphin, pregnant seal’ causing a mini-tourism boom on Poolbeg Peninsula.

Brendan Price, Biologist and a founder of the ISS, told me that he had been to the scene and said “On inspection, this proved to be a dead specimen bull grey seal decomposing at the car park opposite ESB and parked in a most macabre manner, across the sea defences by a high tide, as though laid out– the end of a magnificent life and what stories of Dublin Bay and beyond it could have told!”

Speaking about the seals Brendan continued “Could we but heed and understand the lives of these Dublin Bay residents, would we need yet another Dublin Bay task force building on the dust of its predecessors and likely to gather more dust itself.”

He complained about the shortcomings of the Dublin City Council Biodiversity Plan and noted that “anecdotally and by first-hand witness and account, the ISS and Ringsend/ Sandymount residents know grey seals (and more recently common) have come to feed and breed in the Bay since prehistoric times, while yet another group of consultants strives to produce yet another biodiversity plan, without adequate community input and surveillance.”

He said “A week ago bottlenose dolphins were breaching and leaping within 30 metres of the Poolbeg Lighthouse and up as far as the Half Moon Swimming Club. Great northern divers have been spotted and sooty guillemots again breed in this area. Porpoise are regularly spotted and the Liffey, as residents know all too well, and the river still hosts a run of native salmon, the last capital city in Europe with this distinction.

“Does Minister John Gormley have any residents on this latest Dublin Bay Task Force, or are they all too tired giving the same witness repeatedly– and repeatedly being ignored? For such sentiments, the ISS has not been consulted and if we are, we will be telling him to read earlier reports,” he said. “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence and while consultants fail to see what is under their noses, hard to see from the office, those of us who walk the walls, peninsula and bay will enjoy it as long as we can and will be visible and audible in face of undesirable development. The Seal Sanctuary knows there to be many resident defenders on the ground in Dublin Bay and Poolbeg.”

The Irish Seal Sanctuary provides shelter, treatment and rehabilitation for rescued marine wildlife found in difficulty around Ireland’s coast. A challenge like no other, your chance to work with the world’s first protected species– the grey seal. The ISS is looking for full-time volunteers to join their dedicated and experienced team to rescue and rehabilitate sick and injured seals.

They need a minimum of three months commitment, with own transport. Room and board can be arranged on request, and placements are self-funded. Previous experience working with animals is preferable but not essential.

They can be contacted at (0)1 8354370 and info@irishsealsanctuary.ie or jjceaser@eircom.net