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Galway city and county has retained all of its five Blue Flags for this year as well as being awarded six Green Coast awards, five of which were retained from last year and a new one awarded to Trá gCaorach, Inis Oirr, for the first time.

Galway City Council is set to invest almost €8,000 in its bid to become the next Irish city to recieve the Purple Flag, an initiative which according to city manager Brendan McGrath offers the city “an unique opportunity to make a further statement, that it is a safe and vibrant place for people to do business in the evening and to enjoy”.

Despite the recent destruction caused to the coastline in Mayo, there may be some relief for beaches which it was feared would lose their Blue Flag status this year because the damage caused would not be cleared up by the time they were inspected. An Taisce held its annual Blue Flag conference with local authorities this week to discuss the blue flag and green flag programs for this year.

Westport is hoping to win another top tourism award and attract more UK visitors with an internationally recognised thumbs-up for the town’s nightlife.

Not all of the 12 Blue Flag beaches in the county are patrolled by a lifeguard which has caused concern among locals according to councillor Michael McNamara.

Mayo County Council is to engage with An Taisce and other agencies over the life guarding requirement for beaches to retain a blue flag. The issue of having lifeguard cover on all blue flag beaches during the bathing season has caused a problem in the county. A number of blue flag beaches in the county that did not get much use by the public during the bathing season still have to have lifeguard cover during this season to maintain blue flag status.

The Mayo County Council has reached an agreement with An Taisce that beaches at Dooega and on Clare Island which get relatively little use will have lifeguard cover at the weekends only. Martin Keating, acting director of services for Mayo County Council, was giving a report on the Blue Flags awarded to beaches in Mayo. He told the meeting that in order to keep a Blue Flag a beach must have an adequate number of life guards on duty, but with some beaches having very low usage there was a difficulty in life-guarding them. Therefore the council came to an agreement with An Taisce for this summer season to have lifeguards on duty at Dooega and Clare Island at weekends only, but both beaches would be monitored and re-assessed at the year end with the other beaches.

Killinure Point Marina, Glasson remains the only inland marina in the country to be in possession of a Blue Flag, following the announcement of the awards for 2010 earlier this week.

With schools set to close as we head into the summer season proper, thousands of people will be heading to our beaches for a day of sun, sea, and relaxation.

With schools set to close as we head into the summer season proper, thousands of people will be heading to our beaches for a day of sun, sea, and relaxation.