COMHAIRLE CONTAE FHINE GALL
FINGAL COUNTY COUNCIL
BALBRIGGAN/SWORDS AREA COMMITTEE MEETING
[Services A – Operational Matters]
Thursday, 13th December 2018
ITEM NO. 10
Question: Councillor B. Dennehy
"To ask the Chief Executive to carry out an assessment and present an
implementation phased plan to provide the facilities that will be required to
achieve Blue Flag Status, which will include ancillary items such as public lighting
for the car park, showers etc. for both the South and North Beaches Rush?”
Reply:
Blue Flags are awarded by An Taisce to beaches that meet a range of criteria
including environmental education and information provision, water quality,
environmental management and safety and services.
The required infrastructure facilities are currently in place at Rush South Beach.
The most critical of the award criteria relates to bathing water quality, and
irrespective of the range and standard of infrastructure in place, without
satisfying the water quality criteria, a Blue Flag will not be awarded.
The standard requires that water quality must be ‘Excellent’ on every sampled
occasion over a consecutive four year period. There are a limited number of
instances when bathing water can be classed as ‘good’ and still meet blue flag
standards over the four year period.
The Table below outlines the water quality classification for Rush South Beach
since 2015:
Beach 2018 2017 2016 2015
Rush South Beach Excellent Poor Sufficient Poor
Due to the requirement for 4 consecutive years with “Excellent” Water Quality
the earliest that Rush South Beach would be in a position to apply for a Blue Flag
would be after the 2022 Bathing Season for award for the 2023 season. In the
meantime, the current infrastructure will be maintained to standard.
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