Over-grazing by sheep was not a factor in the recent contamination of Keem beach on Achill Island, Co Mayo, which led to the loss of the Blue Flag for the popular resort, Mayo County Council has confirmed.
A report prepared by the council on the loss of the prestigious EU accolade for Keem and two other Blue Flag beaches in Co Mayo, Carramore (Louisburgh) and Mullaghroe (Killala), has found that water quality at the beaches was affected by land-based contaminants following heavy rain.
Mr Peter Hynes, the director of services with Mayo County Council, said streams or rivers flowing into the beaches were "seriously contaminated" on the dates when non-compliant beach samples were found by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mr Hynes said, given that 100 grammes of fresh faeces of animal or human origin may contained several thousand million faecal coliforms, it took very little animal waste or human sewage to cause contamination above Blue Flag requirements.
He said that there was no problem with over-grazing by sheep on the nearby hillsides.
He added that the council had placed signs at Keem beach warning people not to bathe after heavy rain.
A member of the council, Mr Michael Holmes, said Keem Bay was "100 per cent uncontaminated" at the moment.
The problem from a tourist point of view, however, was that it had become "a no-go area" to some degree because of a perception about polluted water.
The Mulrany-based councillor welcomed the fact that sheep farmers had been exonerated from blame over the Keem contamination.