Members News

Green Coast Award for Mornington Beach 2009

An Taisce announce 115 beach awards for Ireland and a new beach awards website www.beachawards.ie

An Taisce have awarded 75 International Blue Flags and 40 National
Green Coast Awards for 2009

An Taisce today announced the successful Blue Flag beach and Green Coast Awards recipients for 2009. The awards were presented by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley, T.D., and Dr. Dave Foster, Director of the recently-established Northern Ireland Environment Agency, at a joint North/South awards ceremony on Dollymount Strand in Dublin City at 12noon today.

The second year of the National Green Coast Award has seen Republic of Ireland beaches receiving 115 Beach Awards: 75 Blue Flag and 40 Green Coast Awards and Northern Ireland receiving a total of 10:  6 Blue Flag and 4 Green Coast Awards. In addition to environmental, beach management, safety and services considerations, both awards have stringent water quality criteria which must be adhered to.

Seven Green Coast Awards have been added to last year’s figures. Cork County Council has participated for the first time and has attained Green Coast Awards for Inch Strand and Red Strand in the County.

The number of Blue Flags in the Republic of Ireland has decreased by three this year to 77: 75 for beaches and 2 for marinas. Losses were due to sites failing to meet the Blue Flag Water Quality Criteria which can be attributed to heavy rainfall during the 2008 bathing season. Heavy rainfall causes increased run off and puts pressure on Waste Water Treatment Plants which has a knock-on effect on the quality of water at bathing areas.

The recipients of the An Taisce Individual Coastcare Merit Award and the Coca Cola Coastcare Group Merit Award were also announced. The Merit Awards recognise outstanding effort and or achievement by an Individual and a Coastcare Group throughout the preceding year. Group of the year for 2008/9 is Arklow Coastcare Group and the Individual of the year is Máirie O’Brien of the Portmarnock Beach Committee.

At the event An Taisce announced the introduction of a new beach awards website for Ireland. The site has information on all award beaches in the country as well as information on the awards and bathing water quality. The address is www.beachawards.ie

For further information, please contact:
Patricia Oliver, Director An Taisce Education:  087 2463929
Jimmy McVeigh, Blue Flag Manager: 086 2283690;
Aidan Gray, Clean Coast Manager: 087 6826934
2009 Main Points

Blue Flag Details:
• 83 Applications Received.
• 75 Beaches and 2 Marinas Awarded for 2009.
• Clogherhead has received its first Blue Flag Award for 11 years in 2009.
• Greystones and Bunmahon have had their Blue Flag reinstated for this year.
• 5 Beaches (Enniscrone, Rosses Point, Magherabeg, Redbarn and Duncannon) have entered a Blue Flag pilot phase which makes them eligible for awards in 2010 if they achieve appropriate water quality and fulfil all Blue Flag Criteria during 2009.
• 5 beaches (Killiney, Portrane, Dunmore East, Magherabeg and Claycastle) lost their Blue Flags because of failure to meet the very stringent Blue Flag water quality standards.
• Seapoint did not apply for a Blue Flag this year.
• The International Blue Flag Awards are supported in the Republic of Ireland by the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government.

Green Coast Award Details:
• 40 Beaches have been awarded the Green Coast Award for 2009. This compares with 33 for 2008.
• 2009 is the second year that the Green Coast Award has been conducted nation-wide. The award was piloted for 5 years in the South East of the country as part of an Interreg III programme
• 56 applications were received for the awards. The majority of those that were unsuccessful, failed on water quality criteria, while the remainder were rejected on beach management grounds
• The award scheme was extended to Northern Ireland during 2009 and is administered by Tidy Northern Ireland.
• There will be 4 awards in Northern Ireland for 2009
• The award forms one part of the two-part Clean Coast Programme the second of which is Coast Care.
• Coast Care encourages local community groups to get involved in the environmental management and protection of their local coastline. The programme can assist with this work by supplying materials, contacts and advice on coastal environmental issues.
• An Taisce are also presenting two merit awards to a group and an individual who have been influential in improving their local coastal environment: These are Arklow Coastcare Group and Máire O’Brien, Portmarnock Beach Committee.
• The Clean Coasts Programme is sponsored in the Republic of Ireland by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Coca-Cola Bottlers Ireland and Fáilte Ireland
• The programme is sponsored in Northern Ireland by Coca-Cola Bottlers Northern Ireland