*Lifeguards in Lahinch.
RENEWED CALLS have been made to extend the lifeguard cover in Co Clare.
Lahinch based, Cllr Liam Grant (GP) has recently tabled a proposal before Clare County Council seeking an increase in the lifeguard season to cover the “big beaches” during the month of May. These are Fanore, Kilkee, Lahinch and Spanish Point.
Multiple factors must be considered when it comes to providing a weekend lifeguard service in May, senior engineer in the Council’s environmental department, Cyril Feeney outlined in response. “Generally, the water temperature and overall sea state conditions are not as conducive to beach activities in the month of May compared to later in June and through the summer months. Atlantic swells, particularly in May, can create very unfavourable conditions for beach activities. The number of visitors to the beaches during May would also be far less compared to the busy summer holiday period and it is important to balance available resources to provide the most efficient service”.
As per the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008, the bathing season is designated from June 1st to September 15th. “Local authorities work with the EPA and HSE to monitor bathing water quality during that period to safeguard public health. In order to deploy lifeguards, who also inform the public of any bathing water quality issues, the bathing season regulations would need to be amended and the required sampling regime initiated for any revised dates,” Feeney stated.
Age-profile of lifeguards was also referenced with the majority according to the Council engineer between the 18 to 23 year old bracket. “They are invariably in fulltime education, are generally studying or sitting exams in May and are simply not available to provide a lifeguard service at that time. Based on this reasoning it is not our intention to provide a lifeguard service for weekends during the month or May”.
Lifeguards in the county gave a great service this summer, Cllr Grant said. “If they were in Northern Ireland they would have the cover in May,” he observed.
“The response says water temperatures are not as conducive to activity, I feel that response is out of touch, there has been serious behavioural changes,” Liam added while pointing out over 200 people were in the water with him in Lahinch prior to the meeting.
Cllr Grant acknowledged available resources but felt the argument regarding water testing was “a bit of a farce. “It is tested on Saturday, people swim then and again on the Sunday and Monday only to find out on Monday it isn’t safe, I can tell you it is bad most of the time. It doesn’t sit well with me saying lifeguards not available, how did he come to the conclusion, was it an interview or a survey, they do come from 18-23 cohort but I don’t know why that prevents them from working. Our lifeguard service the best value for money service we have in the Council”.
Support was voiced by Cllr Cillian Murphy (FF) who acknowledged that the time of people not swimming from September to May has passed as he referenced a charity event in Kilkee in November which had 200 people in the water “and pretty much most of them swim every day”. He added, “We are failing in our responsibility if we’re not testing the water all year, I know there is a cost but there’s also a cost to people getting sick and places when the testing is delayed. Our lifeguard service needs to be provided for a longer time. The beach in Kilkee was packed to the rafters every weekend, it is not good enough to say we don’t usually do it so we’re not going to do it”.
Options need to be explored because of the “behavioural change,” Cllr Shane Talty (FF) felt. “For a county where three quarters of our boundary is in water we need to acknowledge this huge interest in sea swimming, I really think the 18-23 cohort would be available at weekends if the offer was made to them,” Cllr Mary Howard (FG) commented.
There has been “huge success” in attracting people to the county out of season, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) observed. “Times are changing, people are swimming more and going to the coast more, we’re marketing our country more than we have ever before but we’re not resourcing our coast to the level. If we’re going to be marketing people to come then we want to come, we need to invest in the resources behind them”.
May’s bank holiday should see lifeguards in situ, Cllr Joe Kileen (FF) remarked. “Use of water depends on the weather, with the scarcity in our budget and funding you don’t want someone sitting there with no one out in the water,” he said.
Discussions have “dewatered” an otherwise “very good motion,” Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) maintained. “Liam asked specifically for the month of May not winter sea swimming. A very sensible solution is to try deliver it”.
Ballyalla Lake described by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) as “the Lahinch of Ennis” could be included in the request,“Cyril’s response is very important, we need to get the bathing qualities amended to get the water season extended”.
Addressing the meeting, Cyril clarified that it was not a matter for Clare County Council to extend the season and rather a statutory one for Government. “Decades of experience” from the EPA is that following significant rainfall “you don’t enter the water” due to run-off from agricultural land, he said. “I understand the popularity of sea swimming, surfing and all manner of weather activities have taken hold. The people we employ as lifeguards are generally in full-time education, the UK subcontract their lifeguarding to RNLI and similar organisations. It’s not as straight forward as sea swimming has become popular and we need to employ lifeguards all year round, there are many elements”.
Chief Executive of Clare County Council, Pat Dowling noted the matter had been debated in 2021 and 2020. “Cyril has given a well-rounded response. Big beaches is the term you used,” he added to which Cllr Grant interjected and reminded him it was “actually Clare County Council terminology”.
Dowling continued, “we can be adaptable to look at our processes, it is specific, you said one month, last year you said all year-round, you are more pragmatic this time and it is something we will examine for the month of May”.
Concluding the discussion, Cllr Grant explained he was trying to focus specifically on the four weekends of May. “I respect the response. I wasn’t happy with the statement that they were not available, we struggled to get staff in June and that was correlated, it seemed like you were speaking on their behalf without asking them”.
