Dr Eimear Cotter, EPA director, made the call as the agency’s 2020 Bathing Water Quality in Ireland report was published. It found that bathing water quality improved across the State last year, a time when more people took to swimming throughout the year during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the EPA only uses results from the bathing season - from June 1st to September 15th - when assessing the quality of bathing water. “The continued improvement in bathing water quality is welcome. As Clifden Beach has been classified as “poor” for five years in a row, it has been declassified as a bathing water for this year.

Source: The Irish Times May 11, 2021 23:00 UTC