Singer-turned-hero Damien Dempsey didn’t make a song and dance yesterday about the summer day he saved a swimmer’s life. The Dublin native waded into the River Slaney in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, and helped pluck a drowning man to safety.

Swimming has been banned on one of Cork’s premier beaches as a result of excessive E.coli bacteria levels in the water.

Four of the country’s most popular bathing spots have failed to pass basic water cleanliness tests.

Four of the country’s most popular bathing spots have failed to pass basic water cleanliness tests.

Size: 190 sq m (2,045 sq ft)

Cork, the country’s largest coastal county, has lost four of its blue flag beaches.

Seven beaches in Co Cork have reopened after the latest test results showed a significant fall in E.coli levels.

Confusion reigned yesterday as lifeguards warned swimmers not to bathe at seven beaches in Co Cork, despite test results showing they were within permissible EU levels for the bacteria E.coli.

One of the seven Cork beaches closed due to pollution had more than six times the EU permissible limit for the potentially fatal bacteria E.coli.

Bathing water at contaminated beaches in Cork had nearly four times the permitted EU level of the E.coli bacteria, which if ingested can cause severe vomiting, diarrhoea, and in some cases even death.

Some of Cork's beaches remain out of bounds for swimmers today.

Three designated Blue Flag beaches are among seven bathing spots in Co Cork where dangerous levels of E.coli have been found.

FANCY building castles in the air, or pinning them down to the ground, at Cork’s coastal Coolmaine?

Property at Coolmaine, near Bantry guides at €275,000.

AN algae which had plagued beaches in west Cork could cost €1.5 million – unless a use for the “sea lettuce” can be found.

LAST week the first storm of winter in this part of the world, with the huge gunnera leaves in the garden almost flying off their stalks – they need controlling anyway – and things going bang in the night.

GEORGIAN design is all about proportion and symmetry, and while its style is easily aped, it is harder to get right than wrong.

HOLD tight — surf’s up, up, up and away as Cork’s first kite-surfing school is set to open within days.

A MAJOR push is on to get rid of a stench which virtually destroyed a beauty spot last summer and which is a constant cause of upset to people living near the village of Kilbrittain.

IF you are prepared to roll up your sleeves just a bit, the house Coolmaine - named after a West Cork beach - might be right up your suburban Cork alley.

THE twin threat of raw untreated sewage and mounting swathes of sea algae are slowly destroying top beaches in West Cork.