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Displaying items by tag: Record Awards

Blue Flags totalling a record 93 have been awarded to beaches and marinas across the country for the 2021 bathing season.

Four additional beaches are receiving the award this year, which is given for compliance with sewage treatment as well as for the quality of bathing water.

Four new beaches are among the 93 Blue Flags awarded by An Taisce for this year's bathing season.

They include two beaches in Cork. Inchydoney East Beach has achieved Blue Flag Status for the first time. While Warren, Cregane Strand gets its Blue Flag status back for the first time since 2013.

More from RTE News

Published in Coastal Notes

Tom Dolan, Solo Offshore Sailor

Even when County Meath solo sailor Tom Dolan had been down the numbers in the early stages of the four-stage 2,000 mile 2020 Figaro Race, Dolan and his boat were soon eating their way up through the fleet in any situation which demanded difficult tactical decisions.

His fifth overall at the finish – the highest-placed non-French sailor and winner of the Vivi Cup – had him right among the international elite in one of 2020's few major events.

The 33-year-old who has lived in Concarneau, Brittany since 2009 but grew up on a farm in rural County Meath came into the gruelling four-stage race aiming to get into the top half of the fleet and to underline his potential to Irish sailing administrators considering the selection process for the 2024 Olympic Mixed Double Offshore category which comes in for the Paris games.