Murlough and Tyrella retain Blue Flag status

Murlough and Tyrella retain Blue Flag status

12 November 2025

LOCAL beaches have again been voted amongst the best in Northern Ireland.

Murlough and Tyrella have retained their prestigious Blue Flag status with the water quality classed as excellent, alongside Ballyhornan and Kilclief beaches.

But there was disappointing news again for Newcastle which has only managed a “sufficient quality” in the annual Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful accreditation scheme.

Province-wide, 22 beaches were placed in the excellent category after rigorous testing of water samples, with 16 achieving blue fag status — 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.

Stormont environment minister, Andrew Muir, said he’s glad to see many sites meeting the excellent standard, but acknowledges there is still a lot more to do to improve water quality and achieve “consistency and excellent performance” across all sites.

Mr Muir said he’s committed to continuing to work with agencies and local councils in improving both water quality and the information and advice offered to the public through the Better Beaches Forum led by his officials.

The Stormont minister also confirmed he is about to launch a new Bathing Water Review and will be seeking the views of all stakeholders in how to further improve the advice his Department can provide around water quality issues.

DAERA carries out regular testing of bathing waters to ensure they’re safe and releases this information to the public on a weekly basis during the bathing season between June 1 to mid-September each year.

The government department recently introduced a new interactive Bathing Water Quality Dashboard enabling the public to make more informed decisions about where and when to swim across Northern Ireland’s 33 bathing waters.  

The dashboard highlighted the water quality at each site via an interactive map and is available at https://daerani.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards.

Keep NI Beautiful chief executive, Eric Randall, said the organisation is “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,” he said.

“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. “

Mr Randall added: “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.”