Beaches stripped of safety flag

NEIGHBOURING beaches at Wicklow’s top resort Brittas Bay were yesterday stripped of Blue Flag status for failing to meet bathing water standards.

But most of Ireland’s top beaches are among the best in Europe.

The continuing high number of Blue Flags awarded underlined the high quality of Irish bathing areas, said An Taisce who operated the European-promoted scheme in Ireland.

A total of 73 beaches and six marinas were awarded the Blue Flag from a total of 90 applications.

The overall number awarded was the same as 2002 but three beaches, north and south beaches in Brittas Bay, Portrane in Dublin and Enniscrone in Sligo lost their Blue Flags.

“Ireland continues to be near the top of the EU league table for bathing water quality,” said An Taisce’s Blue Flag manager Aisling Keane.

Beaches on the western seaboard grabbed the lion’s share of the awards with disappointment continuing for Dublin, Wicklow and other counties on the east coast.

Among the major beaches which lost out was Tramore. Although the Co Waterford beach reached water quality guidelines, it lost out due to concerns about a sewage outfall on the beach.

Ms Keane, meanwhile, revealed that An Taisce is also considering a new flag award for smaller beaches which have pristine water conditions but do not meet the international Blue Flag criteria due to lack of services and amenities such as toilets and car parks.

She also disclosed that some rural communities did not make an application for a Blue Flag in a bid to protect some of the smaller beaches.

Environment Minister Martin Cullen hailed the results as impressive.

However, with some top- beaches not making the grade, the minister said there was a continuing need for constant vigilance to maintain the high standards of Irish waters.

Among the unsuccessful applicants were Dublin’s Killiney beach which lost the award in 2001 and three strands in the environment minister’s constituency, Ardmore, Dumore East and Tramore.

An Taisce said the awards are retrospective and are based on fortnightly water quality results from June to September of last year.

An Taisce said it was not the heritage body’s remit to put up ‘no bathing’ signs at beaches which failed to meet the EU criteria.

Seapoint, which regained its flag, was the only recipient in Dublin while Cork increased its number of Blue Flags from nine to 10 with Garrettstown making the grade.

Kerry and Mayo, with 13 each, received the highest number of Blue Flags in the country. Donegal also retained its 12 Blue Flags again while eight were awarded to Clare.

Minister Cullen noted that on the basis of compliance with EU bathing water quality standards, 97.7% of Irish coastal bathing areas complied with mandatory EU values while 84.7% achieved the more stricter standards.