A conflict of interest on Bull Island which is a bird sanctuary of international importance and a public recreation space.
The input of Captain William Bligh was a major reason for the construction of the North Bull Wall over 150 years ago. Captain Bligh was employed to survey Dublin Bay to make improvements for shipping purposes.
After the wall was built, silt and sand built up around it and Bull Island emerged. The sland is a now unique bird sanctuary.
There's no other city in Europe where wild geese, ducks and waders are to be found in the same numbers within the city limits.
Thousands of people visit Bull Island each year to swim and sunbathe at the three and a half mile long beach. Dublin Corporation are faced with the challenge of protecting the sanctuary for wildlife and developing the island for public recreation.
Five years ago, Dublin Corporation set about building a causeway to Bull Island to open up the island and spread the use of the beach more evenly. Conservationists say the causeway is a threat to nature. Dublin Corporation are also reclaiming an area of swampland next to the causeway and say it will affect the feeding grounds for birds and wildlife.
John Temple Lang, secretary of the Irish Wildfowl Conservancy, fears further reclamation and development of the land by Dublin Corporation who he says have not been forthcoming about their plans.
If the corporation want to make the whole area into a boating pool or a formal park, that means the end of the bird sanctuary.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 21 January 1971. The reporter is Barry Linnane.
