Council urged to restore lifeguards at popular Tipperary swimming spot despite water quality concerns
Lifeguards should be stationed at one of Clonmel’s busiest swimming spots during the summer months, councillors have said.
At the recent meeting of the Clonmel Borough District, Cllr Pat English tabled a motion calling on the council to station lifeguards at the Sandybanks area in Marlfield over the summer.
Cllr English described Sandybanks as a traditional bathing spot and said he was dissatisfied with the council’s response.
“It’s a traditional bathing area even before we had swimming pools in Clonmel, and during the hot periods, there’s hundreds of people out there on a regular basis.
“Up to 10 years ago, there was a lifeguard there on a regular basis, but for some reason, the council removed the lifeguards there and it’s a safety problem,” Cllr English said.
The council said Sandybanks is no longer designated as an official bathing area because of water quality concerns. Under current policy, lifeguards can only be provided at designated bathing waters.
“They put it down to water quality but we got a report lately that the water quality of the Suir is after improving, so that should be looked at again,” he added.
A representative from the Clonmel Borough District said that members of the council’s environment section agreed that the water quality was not good enough for people to swim in, and that they wouldn’t revisit the issue of providing a lifeguard until the quality had improved.
Cllr English said that the water quality had improved and asked that the area be designated as an official bathing area again, allowing the people of Clonmel to safely use the water.
Fianna Fáil councillor Siobhán Ambrose said that it was her understanding that once the water quality of the area improved, it would be automatically considered a bathing area again.
“It was always thought that it was going to be reinstated, and that people don’t have to apply to have it reinstated, I’ve never heard anything like that,” she said.
“It is very active, it’s used all the time, whether there’s a lifeguard out there, whether the quality is good or not, people are swimming out there,” Cllr Ambrose added.
Both councillors were told that an application would have to be filled out to figure out if the water quality is up to the standard of an official swimming area before the issue of a lifeguard would be addressed.