{"id":453561,"date":"2026-05-17T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/453561\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T14:02:09","slug":"donegal-loses-two-blue-flag-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/453561\/","title":{"rendered":"Donegal loses two Blue Flag awards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Donegal has lost two Blue Flag awards for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Portsalon beach and Greencastle Marina failed to hold on to the water quality and environmental certification.<\/p>\n<p>Warden beach at Ballymastocker Strand, Portsalon was severely impacted by coastal erosion earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>As environmental experts work with Donegal County Council on a solution to the dune erosion, volunteers from the Fanad peninsula and all across Donegal have been giving up their time to restore safe access to the beach.<\/p>\n<p>An Taisce reports that there was no Blue Flag application from Greencastle Marina for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Donegal now holds 11 Blue Flag awards for beaches at Bundoran, Carrickfinn, Culdaff, Downings, Fintra, Killahoey (Dunfanaghy), Marble Hill, Murvagh, Narin, Rossnowlagh, Stroove alongside a Blue Flag marina award for Rathmullan.<\/p>\n<p>Dooey, Magheroarty, Drumnatinney, Ballyheirnan and Port Arthur have all held onto their Green Coast awards for beaches.<\/p>\n<p>The Green Coast Award recognises beaches for their clean environment, excellent water\u00a0quality\u00a0and natural beauty. An important aspect of the Green Coast Awards is the involvement of voluntary Clean Coasts groups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/lifestyle\/donegal-to-host-mcgrath-global-gathering-next-month-633890\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Donegal to host McGrath global gathering next month\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/donegal-to-host-mcgrath-global-gathering-next-month.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Donegal to host McGrath global gathering next month\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/entertainment\/balor-dca-to-bring-brian-friels-lovers-to-the-stage-next-week-634232\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Balor DCA to bring Brian Friel\u2019s \u2018Lovers\u2019 to the stage next week\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/balor-dca-to-bring-brian-friel-rsquo-s-lsquo-lovers-rsquo-to-the-stage-next-week.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Balor DCA to bring Brian Friel\u2019s \u2018Lovers\u2019 to the stage next week\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kerry has now trumped Donegal for the number of Blue Flags, with a total of 16 flags awarded, along with five Green Flags. The Kerry-based Skellig Bounty tour boat at Valentia Island has become the first tourism boat to be awarded a Blue Flag in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>An Taisce \u2013 The National Trust for Ireland\u00a0is responsible for the operation of the Blue Flag programme in Ireland on behalf of the Foundation of Environmental Education (FEE).<\/p>\n<p>A total of 168 awards have been presented today at a ceremony in Cork, just one fewer than last year\u2019s record-breaking total, with 146 beaches receiving awards, along with one tourism boat, and 9 marinas.\u202f A record-setting 73 beaches received the Green Coast Award for the 2026 Bathing Season.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donegal has lost two Blue Flag awards for 2026. Portsalon beach and Greencastle Marina failed to hold on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-453561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}