Eye- level signs ‘ make sense’ at Strandhill

A mother who had allowed her four children to swim at Strandhill is one of the latest people to claim they didn’t see any prohibiting bathing signs on their way down to the beach.

That’s according to Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady who told the meeting that she had never seen as many people in bathing there as she had this year.

“I saw a woman whose four children, aged 5- 9 years were in the water. When I told her about it being prohibited, she said she didn’t see signage,” said Cllr O’Grady.

She added that the woman suggested that if the signs were at eye- level she might have seen them. “I suppose she might have had a point. Signage could be put at the slip- way. I have a huge concern, people don’t seem to be heeding,” she said.

Director of Services Tom Kilfeather told members that new signs had been installed at either end of the beach after consulting with the RNLI. He also said that Irish Water Safety were currently carrying out a risk assessment on Strandhill beach. “The appropriateness level of signage and their location will be considered in that review,” he said.

Cllr O’Grady said that a risk assessment was “the way forward”. “Whatever is wrong, people are using it for bathing more and more. As people enter the water via the slipway, if there was something there at eye- level it might help,” she said.

Cathaoirleach of the County Council Cllr Hubert Keaney said it was The Sligo Champion’s recent coverage of the issue that drew his attention to the matter.

“To see people swimming there the same week as five people drowned in the UK... I was horrified because there were young children in the photo,” he said.

Cllr Sean MacManus said that he also spoke to people who didn’t see the signs. “There’s a school of thought out there that there were too many signs. What Cllr O’Grady says about signs at eye- level makes a lot of sense,” he added.