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Northern Ireland’s award-winning beaches and marinas have been revealed at a ceremony at Belfast Harbour Office.

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, who manage the accreditations locally, announced 22 winning sites, spread across 5 council areas. Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council is home to more than half the winning sites - earning an impressive 12 awards in total. Other winning sites are spread across Ards and North Down, Newry Mourne and Down, Belfast and Mid Ulster council areas.

16 sites across Northern Ireland earned the iconic Blue Flag Award- one of the world’s most recognised awards for beaches and marinas. Winning sites met international standards in criteria such as safety, accessibility, cleanliness, environmental education and, for beaches, water quality.

Environmental education is a key element of the Blue Flag programme. Initiatives undertaken by this year's winning sites included the launch of the Maritime Mile Discovery Trail at Belfast Harbour, in partnership with the Belfast Maritime Trust; a lizard adventure walk at Tyrella beach; and interactive Beach Schools NI workshops at Portrush East Strand.

A further 6 beaches received Seaside Awards, the UK’s mark of quality that ensures visitors are guaranteed to find a clean, safe, attractive, and well-managed coastal stretch.

Eric Randall, CEO of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful said:

“We are extremely pleased that 22 beaches and marinas are being recognised with either a Blue Flag or a Seaside Award. Northern Ireland can rightly be proud of the amazing beaches and marinas we have to enjoy. Our offering is world class, and the public can be assured of an excellent experience when they visit one of these sites.

As we recognise these areas, we need to take steps to protect them for future generations. All parts of government and society must proactively adopt approaches that reverse the devastating impact of the climate emergency and ensure that these areas thrive into the future.”

Speaking at the ceremony the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir MLA, took the opportunity to announce the expansion of the bathing water programme with the imminent formal identification of seven new bathing water sites.

Minister Muir said:

“I am once again delighted that Northern Ireland has been awarded sixteen Blue Flag and six Seaside winning sites. These iconic awards demonstrate the hard work of councils, volunteers and operators in meeting and maintaining international standards. The awards assure residents and visitors alike that they are guaranteed to find a clean, safe, attractive and well-managed beach or marina to enjoy.

My Department ‘identifies’ the bathing waters that are most popular with swimmers. These sites must achieve high standards of water quality and are regularly monitored during the bathing season which runs from 1 June to mid-September. The information is made public to ensure bathers can make informed choices as to when to swim. My Department also supplies this important information to Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to be used in the assessment for the Awards that we are here to celebrate today.

Up until now, Northern Ireland has had twenty-six bathing waters. I am delighted to announce that I intend to add a further seven sites to the programme before this year’s bathing season. I hope that this demonstrates my commitment to improving water quality for the benefit of all and to working in partnership with KNIB and the wider Better Beaches Forum.”

Mayors from across councils, and beach and marina operators were invited to collect the awards.

Award-winning beaches will now have their respective flags in place for this year’s bathing season. In the event that water quality is not safe for members of the public to swim in the water, Blue Flags and Seaside Awards Flags are lowered until the water is safe to swim in.

Blue Flag Marinas, which are not designated bathing waters, fly their flags all year round.

Notes to editors

Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful is a charity working towards the vision of a world where people and nature thrive, by running environmental-education programmes and awareness-raising campaigns, increasing volunteering opportunities and reporting on local environmental quality. Programmes include the national civic-pride campaign Live Here Love Here, Carbon Literacy training, and local environmental quality programmes, such as Eco-Schools NI, Blue Flag Award, Seaside Award, Green Flag Award, Cleaner Neighbourhoods and Marine Litter surveys. For more information, visit www.keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org .

DAERA Marine and Fisheries Division monitors Northern Ireland’s bathing water quality during the bathing season, which runs from 1 June through 15 September. During this time, water quality is assessed on 20 different occasions at each location.

What are the Blue Flag Awards?

The Blue Flag is an international award scheme that recognizes and rewards beaches, marina and boats for high quality management. In order to qualify for the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, education, safety and accessibility criteria must be met and maintained. In addition, beaches must achieve excellent water quality consistently through the previous four bathing seasons to be awarded.

What are the Seaside Awards?

The Seaside Award is a mark of quality management for beaches across the UK. It works towards sustainable development of beaches through strict criteria that includes water quality, environmental management, and safety. Where the Seaside Award flag is flown, you are guaranteed to find a clean, attractive and well managed coastal stretch.

What is the Better Beaches Forum?

DAERA chairs a Better Beaches Forum with bathing water operators (primarily local councils), Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful (KNIB), Northern Ireland Water (NIW), Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), community groups, and other land-owners like the National Trust.

The Forum typically meets bi-annually and focuses on three key areas

o improving water quality;

o improving beach cleanliness, facilities management and signage; and

o keeping the public and media better informed.

For further information about the Blue Flag Award and Seaside Award, please contact: claire.irwin@keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org