Blue Flag beaches leave us spoiled for choice

One of my favourite announcements of the year is the awarding of the Blue Flag and Green Coast Awards. The awards recognise quality at our beaches, and when the announcement comes it means the swimming season has started.

Started for some, of course. There are hardy souls for whom the swimming season never ends. Those warriors feel it is nothing to dip into the deep in the depth of winter. You may call it brave. Others call it other things. That some can swim around our shores in the winter and some cannot may be about biology or bravery, but either way you’d have to admire those who do.

But perhaps it is just that all these things are relative. On a summer’s day on a Mayo beach a few years back, a small uptick in the temperature one day caused many locals to splash and jump wildly into the water. While all this exuberance was going on, two Spaniards, coats and hats firmly on, walked grimly along the beach. It struck me that they must feel as we do when watching one of those nature documentaries as a seal slips through a hole in the ice.

But whether you have a thick skin or not, from now on swimming in the west of Ireland becomes not only possible, but something to enjoy more than endure.

Operated in Ireland by An Taisce, the Blue Flag programme is an international standard recognising the quality of the water and the facilities at a beach. The Green Coast Awards are for beaches which have excellent water quality but may be less populated and developed. In simple terms, the Blue Flag beaches will have better facilities, but the Green Coast ones will be further off the beaten track and so have the special charm that comes with that. 

Mayo retained all its 11 Blue Flags and nine Green Coast awards for the 2026 season. You can find the full list on www.mayo.ie. A particularly positive aspect is that these beaches are nicely spread around the county, with the south bank of Clew Bay, Achill and Erris being especially well represented. Ballina and North Mayo will be glad to see Ross again on the list. Enniscrone makes sure that the Sligo side of the bay flies its Blue Flag proudly, with the swimming facilities there getting better all the time.

As well as Ross in Killala, the full list of Blue Flag beaches in Mayo is - Clare Island; Keem, Dooega, Dugort and Keel on Achill; Elly Bay and Mullaghroe in Erris; and Mulranny, Old Head, and Bertra around Clew Bay.

If you wanted to pick out a favourite, or even a top three of places to visit and swim from that Blue Flag list, you would have a hard job. If the setting and backdrops of each were also being judged in a competition, you could not choose between them. Keem of course gains award after award, not least because when the sun shines and you are enveloped by the arms of the bay, it is truly remarkable. But the distinctive curve of Elly Bay, or the view of the mountains in Mulranny, or the grand sweep of Ross, would put them into the mix. Each one of the beaches on the Blue and Green award lists could make similar claims.

Others not on the list could do so too. What it all says is that we are spoiled for choice and lucky in our setting. It also means that these beaches are marvellous for more than swimming: to walk along them or just to admire the view makes for a fine day out, especially of course if the day is also fine.

While Mayo retained all its awards from last year, and all involved in that should be congratulated, the work is ongoing. Investing in facilities and doing what is needed to improve water quality is a crucial job. We all know what happens when it rains hard and those signs pop up at beaches advising us not to swim. Tourists visiting our region pay particular heed to these things, so it matters to livelihoods as well as to our wellbeing. Every support and encouragement is due to all those who are working to make these beaches as good as they can be.

And a special word to the lifeguards who will keep everyone safe this summer too. Beaches are wonderful things, but you cannot put safety as too high a priority. As even the strongest swimmer will tell you, when you are in the ocean you have to respect the sheer power of what you are dealing with. For those less experienced or unused to sea swimming, this is especially important. Never going out past your depth unless you are a very strong swimmer is an essential piece of advice. Even if you are in your depth, remembering that even on a seemingly calm day that the sea water is stronger than you is another one. 

The Blue Flag Awards are a great award for many reasons, not least in assuring you that if it is safe to swim the day you are there, then it is safe to safely swim there. Staying away from places where people don’t regularly swim is one of the hard rules of swimming that must not be broken.

And then, when all the good advice is followed, and you get in for your dip, you will experience another form of relativity. For no matter how warm the air, or how far into the summer we are, the water on our coast is no warm bath - at least when you first enter it. So if you want to feel more like that seal from the documentary when you do that, every sports and lifestyle store in the region will be happy to provide you with a wetsuit.