Cllr John Connolly is encouraging people to have their say on the National Swimming Strategy before the public consultation period for the proposed strategy ends tomorrow (Friday ). The Galway City West councillor has highlighted the lack of water quality monitoring at Galway’s public beaches outside of the traditional bathing season as being of particular concern.
The National Swimming Strategy will be based on a vision to provide everyone in Ireland with an opportunity to swim. Minister of State for Sport and the Gaeltacht, Jack Chambers, launched a public consultation on the strategy last month.
“The development of the strategy aims to provide additional swimming opportunities, indoors and outdoors, and it is important that the consultation is afforded to swimmers and those who have never enjoyed the opportunity to learn or practise this important life-skill,” Cllr Connolly said this week.
“One outcome I am hoping for in the development of the strategy is the end of the use of the term ‘bathing season’. September sees the end of the annual sampling of bathing water quality in beaches. It’s incredible to think that there will be no further sampling of the water quality in Galway beaches until next June. This fails to recognise that outdoor swimming is now a year-round pursuit with an increasing number of participants.
“It’s worth noting that in August, on the advice of the HSE, Galway City Council issued a Prohibition Notice for Silverstrand Beach where water samples came back above the established thresholds following a short term pollution event caused by the large amounts of rainfall in the days prior to the sample date,” Cllr Connolly added. “While such incidents are rare, they are disappointing. But the prohibition notice recognised the priority of the council to protect public health. Swimmers don’t enjoy the same level of protection outside of the bathing season.”
The public consultation process includes a survey which can be accessed through gov.ie/swimmingstrategy Submissions can also be emailed to [email protected]. The consultation concludes tomorrow (Friday ) at 5.30pm.
