Within minutes, Hill is down the steps, into the sea and bobbing merrily in waters still chilly despite the May sunshine. <\/p>\n
Does it worry him that the bathing area has been rated \u2018poor\u2019 by the Environmental Protection Agency<\/a> (EPA) with the consequence that the advice is not to swim there? <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m more concerned about what the waves are doing,\u201d he says as another hits the wall and a fountain of spray rains down. <\/p>\n \u201cI just make sure I don\u2019t drink the water and I wash off afterwards. I\u2019ll be okay then.\u201d <\/p>\n He gestures to the freshwater showers D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council<\/a> has installed on the sheltered jetty, built during the refurbishment of the baths. <\/p>\n Having spent \u20ac18 million on the work and registered the baths as an officially designated bathing area for the first time in 2025 \u2013 triggering a water-quality testing regime specified by EU<\/a> law and overseen by the EPA \u2013 it was a blow when the test results published earlier this month produced a \u2018poor\u2019 outcome. <\/p>\n The council stressed the tests referenced were carried out last summer and that testing before and since had shown consistently good results. <\/p>\n Nevertheless, notices must be in place at the baths from Monday, June 1st \u2013 the start of the official bathing season \u2013 informing bathers of the poor rating and that it comes with advice not to swim. <\/p>\n The baths will also carry notices with the more recent and ongoing weekly test results which have been very good.<\/p>\n \u201cI find it confusing,\u201d said Carol Metchette, who is in her 50s and began sea swimming regularly eight years ago. <\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s a big sign saying do not swim then I would take note of it but the council says it\u2019s okay to swim.\u201d <\/p>\n It is hard not to be confused by the testing, rating and notification system in place for bathing waters. <\/p>\n Under the EU Bathing Water Directive, officially designated bathing areas must be tested during the official bathing season, with the results determining the rating for the next season. <\/p>\n The default season is June 1st to September 15th, during which just four samples must be tested.<\/p>\n D\u00fan Laoghaire Baths had two bad samples last season which left the area with the \u2018poor\u2019 rating and no-swim advisory for this season. <\/p>\n Imposing bathing restrictions for a season based on results from a previous season sounds illogical, but the idea is to identify systemic problems causing poor water quality and encourage authorities to address them. <\/p>\n An overloaded sewage outfall pipe might cause difficulties for a few days in a bathing season but there will be little incentive to fix it if it has no knock-on effect for the following season. <\/p>\n D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council issued public statements after the \u2018poor\u2019 rating saying testing in the 2023 and 2024 seasons and in the months since last season showed the baths were fine for swimming. <\/p>\n But the EPA says those tests were not conducted in line with the directive. <\/p>\n \u201cNewly identified bathing waters must have at least 16 qualifying samples [four per year],\u201d the EPA said. \u201cA site must first be formally identified under the regulations for its samples to count. <\/p>\n \u201cThe samples analysed by D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown in 2023 and 2024 were not collected as per the Bathing Water Regulations, no sample calendar was scheduled and submitted to the EPA, and the EPA had no oversight of the sample collection and analysis. These samples are inadmissible.\u201d <\/p>\n The recent good results promoted by the council as reason to have confidence in the water quality do not count either as they were taken outside the official bathing season. <\/p>\n Two years ago, under pressure from year-round swimmers for local authorities to test regularly outside of June to September, the Government introduced the Bathing Water Quality (Amendment) Regulations. <\/p>\n These require local authorities to notify the EPA by March 24th each year which bathing areas they want officially identified and what official testing season they want to apply. <\/p>\n Not one local authority has sought to extend the season at any of the country\u2019s 154 designated bathing areas. <\/p>\n Gerry Jones of SOS Dublin Bay, a campaign group pushing for better water quality and more rigorous monitoring, is not surprised. <\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t want to extend the bathing season because they\u2019ll have to test in months when it rains more and they\u2019ll get more poor results,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Heavy rain often causes temporarily poor water quality as run-off from farmland, streets and stormwater overflows carries waste, dirt and bacteria into the sea.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the local authorities do their own testing outside the official system, they can publicise the results when they\u2019re good, and if they\u2019re bad, they don\u2019t affect their official ranking,\u201d Jones says. <\/p>\n Whether or not that\u2019s the motivation, an ongoing EU review of the Bathing Water Directive found the regulations do create challenges for local authorities, with lack of resources for extended season testing a common complaint. <\/p>\n The review reported the directive was \u201clargely fit for purpose\u201d but added \u201cthere is a scope for further improving its functioning\u201d. <\/p>\n Donna Cooney, a Green Party<\/a> councillor in Dublin City<\/a> and long-time sea swimmer, agreed the system needed improving.<\/p>\n \u201cSome councils are reluctant to even have a bathing area officially designated because if they bring it under the official testing, it will probably fail,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t want to have to tell people, \u2018sorry, you can\u2019t swim there\u2019. And, to be fair, a lot of swimmers don\u2019t want to hear that either.\u201d<\/p>\n Cooney said there was also frustration over the slowness of test results. <\/p>\n \u201cSwimming restrictions are put in place for a few days after rain and there may be no need because the test results eventually come back clear. <\/p>\n \u201cBut then if they come back showing a problem, you have a restriction for another three or four days, when the contamination has probably already cleared.\u201d <\/p>\n Technologies are being developed for real-time testing and fast results, but they are not widely in use yet. <\/p>\n \u201cTesting doesn\u2019t sort the underlying problem, which is that our water quality needs to be better,\u201d Cooney added. <\/p>\n Gerry Jones agrees. \u201cNo matter how good our testing becomes, we also need better wastewater infrastructure,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cClonshaugh (the wastewater treatment plant planned for north Dublin) should have been built 15 years ago.\u201d <\/p>\n Back at D\u00fan Laoghaire Baths, Pat Byrden (51) said he has never been sick from swimming \u2013 as far as he knows \u2013 and the poor rating won\u2019t deter him. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ve done worse things for my health than swimming in the sea. So I\u2019m not really concerned.\u201d <\/p>\n Annette Lawlor (56) felt similar. \u201cI\u2019ll just keep my mouth closed,\u201d she said with a laugh. <\/p>\n That\u2019s a common refrain among sea swimmers, but it is near impossible as they generally hit the waters smiling. <\/p>\n Gary Hill emerges smiling too. \u201cI don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s because I swim, or because my wife makes me a nice breakfast when I swim, or because of the fresh air, but I know I feel better when I swim.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 83, with two bouts of cancer behind him, not much fazes Gary Hill. He arrives early on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[193860,61,60,43,13675,26701],"class_list":["post-474465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-dun-laoghaire-baths","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-swimming","tag-water-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474465","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=474465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"'I’m](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/TVWXPVFVRRG5LHSTVO655KVX5A.JPG\")
‘I\u2019m more concerned about what the waves are doing,’ said Gary Hill when asked the EPA’s ‘poor’ rating at D\u00fan Laoghaire Baths. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n![\"Carol](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ZUQ7ZS7TFJAOPMDLVH2JQX6JUA.JPG\")
Carol Metchette and her dog Harvey at D\u00fan Laoghaire Baths on Thursday. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/C2MUFFA4PJBTJPHRFECVNCFDIU.JPG\")
The Environmental Protection Agency and D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have given differing messages on the water quality at D\u00fan Laoghaire Baths, Dublin. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw <\/p>\n![\"Annette](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/XTRVR4ZOP5GOJO3JIGGQ3ZCENY.JPG\")
Annette Lawlor at the baths. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n