A new report has found the quality of bathing water at nearly a quarter of Ireland's beaches failed to meet national standards last year.
The report by the Environmental Protection Agency said virtually all bathing areas reached EU minimum standards. The three exceptions were Skerries and Balbriggan in north Dublin and Dunmore East in Waterford.
A total of 131 bathing areas, both seawater and freshwater, were monitored throughout the 2004 bathing season. They were assessed for compliance with two sets of EU standards: minimum quality standards (EU Mandatory Values) and more stringent quality targets (EU Guide Values).
The EPA also monitored compliance with additional parameters set by Ireland (National Limit Values) to examine areas such as water colour, transparency, faecal streptococci and dissolved oxygen.
A number of bathing water areas in the Dublin area experienced an improvement in bathing water quality since 2002. A major contributory factor to this improvement was the commissioning of a new wastewater treatment facility at Ringsend.
The bathing areas that showed the most notable water quality improvement were Malahide, Portmarnock, and Dollymount.