Swimming restrictions lifted at Lady's Bay in Buncrana as water quality improves
Swimming restrictions have been lifted at Lady’s Bay in Buncrana and water quality has increased from ‘poor’ to ‘sufficient’.
A report from the Environmental Protection Agency, published on Tuesday, highlighted the improvement in water quality at the location.
Lady’s Bay is one of two beaches, alongside Sandymount Strand in Co. Dublin that improved from ‘Poor’ to ‘Sufficient’ in 2025.
The EPA noted that ‘the all-season bathing restriction has therefore been lifted at these beaches.’ The report highlighted how ‘Special Management Plans were put in place to identify and fix pollution problems at both locations.’
The local authorities (Donegal County Council for Lady’s Bay) have reported that the efforts carried out in 2024 have been successful, and both beaches showed improvements in sample results.
The EPA said: “Both beaches received a Sufficient water quality classification for the 2025 season. Swimming restrictions have now been lifted, and regular testing is ongoing. At Lady’s Bay, Buncrana, Uisce Éireann undertook a major upgrade of the collection system to improve performance and increase storage capacity for wastewater collected during periods of heavy rainfall. All samples taken during the 2025 season met or exceeded minimum quality criteria.”
The EPA report also outlined its ‘key messages’ for bathing waters nationally.
It stated how more frequent heavy rainfall in 2025 resulted in increased pressure on bathing waters.
"Further actions to protect bathing water quality will be needed to build climate resilience into the future.”
They added that Uisce Éireann ‘must continue to improve the operation, management and maintenance of treatment plants and networks that impact on bathing waters.’
Another key message stated that ‘targeted measures to address agricultural runoff should be prioritised in catchments where local authorities have identified it is as a pressure impacting bathing water quality.’
In 2025, the EPA was notified of 79 pollution incidents that resulted in the temporary closure of bathing waters, up from 34 in 2024. The majority were due to the presence of E.Coli and/or Intestinal Enterococci
in sample results (32 incidents). Bathing waters were also closed as a precaution following overflows in the sewer network (47 incidents).
Meanwhile, bathing waters in other Donegal beaches have been deemed ‘excellent,’ including Stroove, Lisfannon, Culdaff, Rathmullan and Portsalon. See www.beaches.ie for a full list.