The water quality around beaches is generally high, with 97% of sites tested by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year, meeting or exceeding the minimum standard.
A report by the EPA found 114 beaches had excellent water quality last year, down from 117 in 2022.
Five beaches were found to have 'poor' quality bathing water, up from three in 2022.
Three of the five were located in Dublin; Balbriggan Front Strand Beach, Loughshinny Beach and Sandymount Strand.
Lady’s Bay in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, and Trá na mBan in An Spidéal, Co. Galway remained on the list for the second year in a row. Balbriggan Front Strand Beach also stayed on the list for 2023.
Water quality was impacted by sewage, bird poo and dog poo, as well as run-off from agriculture and septic tanks.
Programme Manager at the EPA Mary Gurrie, said there's room for improvement.
"About a quarter of them have scope for improvement to keep on working towards getting excellent quality.
"We have five beaches at poor quality, and the advice this year will be not to swim at those beaches.
"Uisce Éireann's wastewater treatment and sewage is a problem at some of those beaches, so we need to see Uisce Éireann progressing the works that are needed".
Record rainfall levels in July and storms in August 2023 resulted in more beach closures to protect public health. These rainfall events highlighted the need to build climate resilience into the effective management of our bathing waters. Read more:https://t.co/nnhmwlWbxx pic.twitter.com/hFWWgpmm59
— EPA Ireland (@EPAIreland) May 16, 2024
The environmental watchdog says wet weather in July and August last year put pressure on our beaches, and led to more beach closures.
The EPA says the rainfall events in 2023 highlighted the "need to build climate resilience into the effective management of bathing waters".
