Moneypoint a major part of our 'untapped potential'

safe for swimming.

P Raic Mcmahon

EIGHT CLARE BEACHES have retained Blue Flags for the 2023 bathing season while Cappa has lost its status.

paraic@clareecho.ie

An Taisce have confirmed that Blues Flags have been retained in Whitestrand Miltown Malbay, Ballycuggernan, Whitestrand Doonbeg, Mountshannon, Fanore, Spanish Point, Kilkee and Lahinch.

MINISTER for the Environment, Eamon Ryan (GP) has pinpointed Moneypoint as a vital component in Ireland reducing its energy emissions.

Carrigaholt beach, Ballyalla Lake, Seafield and Bishop’s Quarter have each retained the Green Coast Award while Kilrush Marina has been included in the list of Blue Flag Marinas for the third consecutive year.

Cappa had held the Blue Flag for fifteen years until last week.

Members of the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce are currently assessing the strategic strengths and comparative advantages of the Estuary will be assessed by the Taskforce while also scoping out potential economic opportunities. The group is to have a report compiled by the end of November.

Chairperson of the Taskforce, Barry O’Sullivan recently met with Minister Ryan and for the Green Party leader their engagement hammered home the possibilities for the entire region surrounding

Confidence has been expressed by Clare County Council that Cappa will retain its Blue Flag next season. The local authority said the setback for the Kilrush beach relates to historical sampling data relating to testing carried out during the past four years into four classifications, namely Excellent, Good, Sufficient and Poor. Cappa has this year been classified as “Good”, which is above bathing water quality standard required, and the Council is reassur ing the public that the area remains

During his time as Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources from 2007 to 2011, Ryan set a target of 40 per cent of the country’s energy com ing from renewable sources, this was met in 2020. Now, he wants this doubled to 80 percent by 2030.

The Blue Flag programme aims to raise environmental awareness and promote sound environmental management of beaches, marinas, and eco-tourism boats around the world. 2023 is the 36th year that beaches and marinas have been awarded here in Ireland and the 95 beaches and marinas being awarded is the highest annual total to date.

“I’m convinced we can do it, one of the ways we can do it is by switching offshore, our sea area is seven times our land area, there is a limit in Kerry as to how much turbines you can put up in any area but at sea, the resource is huge and the wind power is really strong,” he stated.

First presented in 2003, the Green Coast Awards recognises beaches for their clean environment, excellent water quality and natural beauty. An important aspect of the Green Coast Awards is the involvement of Clean Coasts groups in the management of awarded sites.

Offshore wind energy by Moneypoint is central to this. Speaking on Radio Kerry’s flagship current affairs show, Kerry Today, Minister Ryan outlined, “We will have a lot of offshore wind which will come into shore at the Shannon Estuary, that’s where we have the deep-water port.

Cllr. Tony O’Brien (FF), Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council, commented, “Clare has a proud tradition of involvement in the Blue Flag award scheme, which represents high standards in water quality, environmental information and education, environmental management and safety, services and facilities. The county’s beaches have a longstanding reputation for their clean environment, excellent water quality and natural beauty”.

He was confident Cappa would se cure its Blue Flag status next year.

Cathaoirleach of the West Clare

"If you look at what the likes of ESB are proposing and look at Moneypoint on the other side of the Estuary and similar with Tarbert on this side, you’ve all you need there, you have a really good deep water jetty so any ships can get in, you have a platform there which you could deploy turbines out but what the ESB want to do, you bring the offshore wind in there, you use the grid which we have, there’s major electricity wires connecting to both Tarbert and Moneypoint, you can put that electricity onto that grid to power the country.

Municipal District, Cllr Shane Talty (FF) stated, “The small rocky beach and nearby pier at Cappa are popular with local residents and visitors alike and the latest development will do little to change this. In line with the Bathing Water Quality Regulations 2008, regular testing at Cappa will continue from Monday which will reassure people that Cappa remains a safe environment in which to enjoy the waters of the Shannon Estuary”.

“When the wind isn’t blowing, the ESB are saying we should do and everyone in Europe is now talking about and starting to do, you convert the electricity into hydrogen and use electrolysis, it is a new but advancing technology, when the wind isn’t blowing you burn the hydrogen to generate power and you run the power out on the same grid, you have a continuous stable electricity source,” he explained.

Siobhan McNulty, Acting Director of Services, Physical Development, Clare County Council explained, “One of the criteria for retaining the Blue Flag is bathing water quality, which is assessed as an average of the previous four years. The detection of several elevated E-coli and Enterococci readings in 2019, 2020 and 2022 means that bathing water quality for Cappagh has changed from ‘Excellent’ for 2022 to ‘Good’ for the 2023, which, under the Blue Flag Programme, would be insufficient to retain the Blue Flag this year. With increased sampling of the water quality being undertaken this summer, Clare County Council is hopeful that the Blue Flag will be flying high over Cappa once again during the 2024 bathing water season”.

Minister Ryan insisted that this was necessary. “We will have emergency generators to provide back up as well, we do need that, the really big strategic option by 2030 what we’re planning to have is 5GW of offshore wind and to put that in scale, that is equivalent to the amount of energy we’re using el, then the following decade and this is the really big industrial plan for the country, we can use that to go further to really tap into the