We’re to blame for E.coli threat at Youghal beach

The possibility that the much-loved strand at Youghal may not be open to swimmers next year because of a high levels of the E.coli bacteria in the water is another consequence of our devil-may-care attitude towards planning, pollution, the need for infrastructure to support development and our dangerously soft-touch regulation. 

The less than convincing penalties imposed on offenders is also a powerful factor.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to advise Cork County Council that the town’s Front Strand may be ruled off limits for swimmers is more than unfortunate and has been described as “devastating” by the town’s tourism interests. This must be more than disheartening for those businesses but in a country that tolerates situations where untreated waste is regularly disposed of in waterways, where unlicensed pig farms can accumulate four million gallons of slurry without any means of disposing of it, where cryptosporidium is found in drinking water and where boil notices prevail for years on end, it is not unexpected.