Blue Flags lowered

**NEWS UPDATE**

ON Thursday morning, An Taisce admitted on Radio 1’s Morning Ireland that Lahinch and Miltown should have been awarded blue flags and that there was a flaw in the system. Blue flags are to be reinstated at both Lahinch and White Strand in Miltown Malbay.

**MAIN ARTICLE**

A “MATHEMATICAL anomaly” in a new system of evaluating Ireland’s beaches has resulted in Lahinch and White Strand (Miltown Malbay) losing their prestigious Blue Flag status, Clare County Council has claimed.
This will come as a big blow to tourism promoters in these areas, who see the Blue Flag as an important endorsement of their beaches. Outside of regular users of the beach, whose concerns should be easily assuaged, the absence of a Blue Flag could be a factor in other visitors bypassing them.
Blue Flag beaches all over the country have been affected by the revised system of awarding flags. Ireland has only received 74 Blue Flags, a drop of 13 on last year’s total, while a further 12 beaches also lost Green Coast awards because of the higher standards.
Mayor of Clare Pat Daly reflected the concerns of people in both areas, when he warned the loss of Blue Flags at Lahinch and White Strand could “impact negatively on tourism at both locations and throughout the wider area”.
The council has called for a review of the methods used to determine International Blue Flag Award recipients after it was informed by An Taisce and the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that two of the county’s best-known bathing areas have lost their Blue Flags for this year. The six Clare bathing areas to retain their flags are Fanore, Kilkee, Cappa beach in Kilrush, White Strand (near Doonbeg), Ballycuggeran and Mountshannon.
Describing the bathing water quality at White Strand and Lahinch as “excellent”, Clare County Council suggested the anomaly would have resulted in both locations retaining their Blue Flags had “greater levels of e-coli” been discovered in the water at both locations.
Beaches with good quality water levels could be dragged down into a poor quality category as a result of a highly complex calculation system. Conversely, beaches in poor quality categories could be rewarded.
“Even by the newly introduced Blue Flag standards, which are 2 to 2.5 times more stringent than the previous standards, both Lahinch and White Strand have excellent bathing water, as evidenced in the EPA report on Bathing Water Quality published earlier this month.
“However, a mathematical anomaly arises when low, single-figure e-coli test results, generally signifying pristine water, are included in the calculations and now appear to have resulted in both bathing waters losing their Blue Flag status,” said Paul Moroney, senior engineer with Clare County Council,
The methodology for assessing water quality in determining eligibility for Blue Flag status is based on the EU Bathing Water Directive, which was transposed into Irish law in 2008. The directive has previously drawn criticism from international experts, who claimed that, in some circumstances, application of the methodology to good results could actually result in failures, a scenario that has now presented itself in this year’s Blue Flag awards.
Ultimately, Clare County Council believes the new system of calculating the results, which is currently utilised for the Blue Flag scheme, is not adequately equipped to deal with clean waters and should be reviewed.
Mr Moroney noted the temporary prohibition on swimming at Lahinch, Spanish Point and Kilkee, introduced in July 2012, did not impact on the Blue Flag results as the EPA allowed a derogation to exclude the results on the grounds of an “exceptional weather event”.
He confirmed the council has raised its concerns with An Taisce, who administer the Blue Flag scheme in Ireland on behalf of FEE, in advance of this Thursday’s Blue Flag Awards Ceremony in Dublin.
The matter has also been raised directly with the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan for referral to the EU Commission.
Councillor John Crowe, chair of the council’s Environment and Water Services Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), will be handing a letter to Minister Hogan at the awards ceremony outlining Clare County Council’s concerns and requesting the minister to review the methodology for awarding the Blue Flags.
Mayor Pat Daly said, “Elected members of Clare County Council and I have been briefed by council officials on the situation and it is clear to us that a serious review of the Blue Flag awards system is required to ensure that the anomalies that exist are redressed. It is unacceptable that good water quality results are effectively punished under the new system.
“This situation serves to undermine the time and efforts of the local authority and the local communities in the affected areas who, throughout the year, undertake significant work to ensure Clare’s bathing waters and beaches are maintained to the highest possible standard. I will be making my views known to Minister Hogan on Thursday.”