Blue Flag Status for Merrion & Sandymount Strands
(Motion to Dublin City Council)
DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL
SOUTH EAST AREA COMMITTEE
8th December 2008
Item No. 2
Motion from Councillor Dermot Lacey
This Committee requests a report on what steps it would be necessary to take for Sandymount and Merrion Strands to achieve full Blue Flag Status and to report on what steps are being taken and will be taken to advance that cause.
Report:
The Blue Flag Campaign started in France in 1985 and has been operating in Europe since 1987 and in areas outside of Europe since 2001. Today countries from all around the globe are participants in the Blue Flag
Campaign, which strives to promote sustainable development in coastal areas through:
* high water quality standards
* safety standards
* environmental management standards and
* environmental education
There are 29 criteria set out to achieve Blue Flag status. Generally these criteria are in two parts, the first are the imperative or obligatory criteria which all beaches and marina must comply with in order to be awarded a Blue Flag. These obligatory criteria relate to water quality, litter management, safety, service and facilities and environmental education and information. Guideline criteria which are non-mandatory refer generally to the establishment of beach management committees, the provision of recycling facilities on the beach and the promotion of sustainable means of transportation to the beach area. The following points should also be noted:
* Blue Flag is valid only during the official bathing season and for one season at a time.
* The Blue Flag bathing season is determined to be the 1st June to the 31st August.
* Only bathing areas designated as such by the Irish Government are eligible to apply for Blue Flag status.
Sandymount Strand achieved a Green Coast Award in 2007. The Green Coast Award acknowledges beaches which meet EC bathing water quality standards, but which are also prized for their natural, unspoiled
environment. A “natural, unspoilt environment” means that the special character of such a beach may not be compatible with the level of infrastructure and intensive management generally associated with more urban, traditional seaside resort beaches where the blue flag award would be more appropriate.
