Meath beaches have "excellent" bathing water quality says new report

Meath beaches have been found to have excellent bathing water quality.

That’s according to the Bathing Water Quality in Ireland report undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Laytown and Bettystown were found to have excellent bathing water.

The report revealed that the majority of officially designated swimming sites in Ireland have excellent or good quality.

It found that 144 out of 148 bathing waters met or exceeded the minimum required standard, with 117 of them classified as excellent or good.

In particular, the EPA highlighted two beaches that have improved from Poor to Excellent quality over recent years: Portrane, the Brook Beach in Dublin, and Trá na bhForbacha, Na Forbacha in Galway.

Three out of the 148 were deemed poor this year and so will have a swimming restriction for the 2023 season.

These were Front Strand Beach at Balbriggan in Dublin, Lady's Bay at Buncrana in Co Donegal, and Trá na mBan, at An Spidéal in Co Galway.

The official bathing season in Ireland starts on 1 June and runs until 15 September.

In advance of that, the EPA has reassured swimmers that in the vast majority of cases the water quality is safe.

148 bathing sites officially designated by local authorities are monitored on an ongoing basis.

This year, 97% of them met or exceeded the minimum standards, including the 79% that were deemed excellent.