Water quality at the majority of Ireland’s bathing waters was of a high standard in 2023, with 97% meeting or exceeding the minimum required standard of Sufficient. Using four years of data, bathing waters are assessed and categorised under four main classifications based on the level of compliance with standards relating to E. coli and intestinal enterococci. The classifications are Excellent, Good, Sufficient and Poor. More than three quarters of all identified bathing waters (77%) were classified as Excellent in 2023 and an additional 16% of bathing areas were classified as Good. Five bathing waters were classified as Poor in 2023. Management measures are required to bring all Poor bathing waters up to at least Sufficient status.
Find out more about bathing water quality on the EPA's BEACHES website and in the 2023 Bathing Water Quality in Ireland report.
Changes - improvement in quality has occurred due to management measures but classification is not yet possible as the minimum number of samples (16) have not yet been taken since the changes occurred.
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