As the bank holiday approaches, Dublin north swimmers will be disappointed to learn the prohibition notice ‘Do Not Swim’ has been extended for the Front Strand, Balbriggan for another 72 hours.
Fingal County Council today (Thursday, July 28) have advised beach users and swimmers, that the temporary notice issued on Tuesday last has been re-issued, advising swimmers to desist from entering the water over the holiday weekend.
Balbriggan Beach remains open but beach users are asked to respect the ‘Do Not Swim’ notice as it has been put in place to ensure that the health of bathers is not compromised.
The poor water results, said the council, are likely the impact of animals/birds and contamination of urban surface waters.
BASS, Balbriggan Amenity for Sea Swimming, slated the responsible authorities earlier this year, and sent a blistering letter to the Senior Parks Superintendent at Fingal County Council, then Mayor of Fingal, Our Balbriggan Leadership Group, and elected representatives of Balbriggan (LEA 5).
A four-page document blasting “the lack of investment and interest from Fingal County Council” in Balbriggan.
BASS cited the pandemic ignited a passion for open water activities, and Balbriggan became massively popular with swimmers, dippers, body boarders, kite surfers, surfers, rowers, etc.
The organisation accused FCC and other stakeholders of not taking any preventative or investigative measures to ensure poor water results would not occur again at Balbriggan. It stated the annual excuse of blaming animals/birds and contamination of urban surface waters as the cause was unacceptable.
FCC noted that preliminary e.coli results from Claremont met ‘sufficient’ water quality, as a result, a resample will be taken and the situation monitored.
Resamples have been scheduled at Front Strand Balbriggan for Tuesday next (August 2) and results are due on Thursday (August 4) when the notice will be reviewed.
However, this is most disappointing for swimmers coming into what it he possibly the busiest season for enthusiastic open sea users, the August Bank Holiday weekend.
Members of the public can check for water quality at any of the monitored bathing waters in Ireland in advance by accessing the EPA website at www.beaches.ie or by checking the notice board at the entrance to each beach.
To view an explanation of the standards used for reporting results of bathing water please go to https://www.fingal.ie/bathing-water-quality-monitoring-faqs
See https://dublingazette.com/news/bass-balbriggan-parks-56423/ for previous coverage
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