Galway County Council

Environment

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 FOLLOW THE LINKS BELOW FOR INFORMATION ON THE RELEVANT BEACH

Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway - An Spidéal
Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway - An Trá Mhór
Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway - Doolin
Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway - Loughrea
Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway - Kilmurvey, Inis Mór
Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway - Traught, Kinvara

 

Make a submission in relation to your beach

Bathing Waters are an important amenity, valuable for both their tourism and recreational potential.  It is important that they are afforded the appropriate protections in accordance with legislation, including the European Union's Bathing Waters Directive.  The Directive requires that water quality at all designated bathing waters meets stringent microbiological standards in order to protect the health of people who choose to bathe there.

The Directive was transposed into Irish Law by the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008. Under the 2008 Regulations, local authorities are required to identify bathing waters. Bathing waters are defined as surface waters where a large number of people bathe and where there is no permanent bathing prohibition. This was done nationally for the first time in March 2011 and is reviewed annually. The current list of bathing areas in County Galway is:

Trá an Dóilín, An Cheathrú Rua

Traught, Kinvara

Loughrea Lake

An Trá Mór, Coill Rua, Indreabhán

Cill Mhuirbhigh, Inis Mór

Céibh an Spidéil

Trá na bhForbacha, Na Forbacha

Clifden Beach

Goirtín, Cloch na Rón

Trá Chaladh Fínis, Carna

Trá na mBan, An Spidéal

Bathing Place at Portumna

 

The regulations require public participation in the identification process. This consultation process provides the public with an opportunity to:

 

To this end, Galway County Council invites comments from interested parties in relation to the identification of Bathing Waters.  Comments can be submitted as follows:

or


The closing date for receipt of submissions is the 15st September 2011.

 

Criteria to be used for identification of Bathing Waters

The term ‘large numbers of bathers’ is not defined by the Directive but should be assessed in light of past trends at the site or to any infrastructure or facilities provided to promote bathing.

Generally, a ‘large number of bathers’ will be found at popular, well-used bathing waters and lakes where bathing is encouraged and facilities for bathers have been provided.  European law and practice has made it clear that the number of bathers is not the only relevant criterion for identifying bathing waters.

In making your submission in relation to the identification of bathing water sites, it might be helpful to consider the following factors, in addition to numbers using the site:

  1. Past trends;
  2. Infrastructure or facilities provided (including accessibility);
  3. Safety considerations.

 

What Happens Next?

Galway County Council will take due account of the submissions, in drawing up the list of bathing water sites.

The legislation requires the local authorities to develop ‘profiles’ for each of the designated sites. These are detailed descriptions of the bathing water sites, their characteristics and those of other surface waters within the catchment area, which could be a source of pollution. The profiles will include an assessment of the risk of pollution and the responses to be taken in the event of a pollution incident occurring.



Discover the Beaches of Co. Galway
To celebrate the wonderful beaches available in Galway county a series of walks have been organised to explore and discover 11 of these magnificent beaches. (pdf, 727 kbs, Last Updated: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 12:01:00 BST)

Blue Flag Beaches

Blue Flag & Green Coast Awards 2011

Galway County Council is delighted to announce that 6 beaches in County Galway have been awarded the coveted Blue Flag and a further 5 beaches have received the Green Coast award at the annual awards ceremony on the Curracloe beach, Co. Wexford on the 9th. June 2011.  The Blue Flags were presented by the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan.

The International Blue Flag Campaign was established by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and is managed in Ireland by An Taisce with support from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.

 

The Blue Flag is awarded to beaches and marinas that meet a specific set of criteria including:

The six beaches in County Galway which were awarded the Blue Flag for 2011 are as follows:

Five Beaches in County Galway were awarded Irish Green Coast Award.  This award recognises coastal areas which have

 These awards are seen as a complimentary award to the Blue Flag Campaign.

The following beaches in County Galway have received the Green Coast Award:

Galway County Council would like to thank the communities for their participation and help in achieving these awards.

National School 2011 Blue Flag Beach Poster competition

 

The following were winning posters in the 2011 Blue Flag Beach Poster competition which was run in national schools throughout County Galway. These posters will also be displayed on the noticeboards on Blue Flag beaches in County Galway. 

 

Roisin Fitzmaurice, Age 5 Chloe Flaherty, Age 6 Emma Urquhart, Age 9.pdf Aifric Ní Scolaí, Age 10 Nessa O'Brien, Age 12.pdf Jodie O'Regan, Age 9