Northern Ireland's beaches provide the perfect place for a fun day out, and today, 2^nd June, awarding body TIDY Northern Ireland, in association with Northern Ireland Tourist Board, announced that 7 beaches and 1 marina will fly the prestigious International Blue Flag and 10 beaches will fly the Seaside Award. So, with the weather hotting up for summer, TIDY Northern Ireland are urging people to take a trip to an award winning beach and dip a toe in the sea or have a picnic.

Ian Humphreys, Chief Executive for TIDY Northern Ireland said, "All Blue Flag and Seaside award beaches not only have water quality that meets the EU bathing water standards but also, through the investment and hard work of beach operators meet a wide range of other criteria covering safety, services, information and education, ensuring a great day out for visitors and local people alike.

A visit last year from the international governing body of Blue Flag found our beaches to be exemplary and we also now have an established Blue Flag marina at Ballyronan, which is raising environmental standards by promoting the individual Blue Flag for boat owners.

Presenting the awards, Environment Minister, Alex Attwood, said: "Today's announcement of the Blue Flag and Seaside Award winners is encouraging news for Northern Ireland's beach users and seaside towns.

"Good water quality and the safety of beaches are key to our economy and tourism and we must strive to achieve high quality standards for the enjoyment of Northern Ireland's entire world famous coastline.

"However, not all of our beaches reach the required standard for water quality and this needs to be addressed. I recently announced that I would be holding a Good Beach Summit within the coming weeks to ensure that all the issues relating to water quality problems can be integrated with all those involved in beach management and beach use. The Summit will involve people both inside and outside government."

The beach awards come with perfect timing as more and more of us are staying at home heading down to our own coast for more affordable holidays, free of the uncertainty caused by loitering volcanic ash clouds; and why wouldn't we, with an array of top notch beaches to choose from.

Added to this good news is that 10 beaches have also received the Seaside Award, an increase of two from 2010, including three beaches along the East Antrim Coast and two on the Ards Peninsula, for exemplary environmental management and good water quality.

The awards event was also used to launch a visitor guide to the 2011 award winning beaches.

Northern Ireland Blue Flag Beaches 2011

Northern Ireland Seaside Award Beaches 2011

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