STRAND-OFF WITH NUDIST PADDLER
Woman (20s) defies guard
A STAND- OFF between lifeguards and a stubborn nudist capped a chaotic bathing season at Ireland’s top- rated beach this summer, official records have revealed.
The defiant disrober — a woman in her 20s — was first spotted by lifeguards on a stand-up paddleboard with two men and a dog at Keem Beach on Achill Island in July.
The strand in Co Mayo was inundated by visitors after publ ic health restrictions were eased during the summer, and it was named the 11th best beach in the world by the travel magazine, Big 7.
Roads to the picturesque i nlet were closed for two weekends in a row due to large crowds, and local media reported that 167 vehicles were parked there at midnight on June 5, while up to 100 tents had been erected in the surrounding hills.
However, logs released under freedom of information laws show the chaos was capped by a bizarre incident on July 17, when a woman defiantly remained naked on the beach for hours despite protests from families and lifeguards.
She was initially sighted with a man and a dog on a stand-up paddleboard, which was being pushed by another “young man”.
“I blew my whistle [to get] their attention and asked the group to come into shore so I could talk to them,” a lifeguard wrote. “[But] the man who wasn’t on the board then pushed them out to sea and came in to speak to me.
“I made him aware that it wasn’t a nudist beach and explained that we’d gotten a complaint from a lady who was concerned about her young kids,” she continued.
Complaint
The man agreed to convey a message to the woman to “come back into shore and put on clothes/ bikini bottoms”. When he failed to do so and several more compla i nt s we r e received, one of the lifeguards decided to approach the nudist directly.
“She ignored me at first and deliberately looked down at the water. I then asked her to put on some form of clothing and she demanded to know why she had to,” the lifeguard stated.
“I explained that it was illegal and that we’d now had several complaints.
She reluctantly agreed and went back up to her towel and bags, where she made no effort whatsoever to cover up or clothe herself.
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SIX out of 10 school principals at both primary and post-primary level claim their job is “very stressful”, with a sizeable minority also stating they feel inadequately supported in their work, according to the findings of a new educational report.
The study by the Education Research Centre found the issue of stress levels was even more pronounced among principals of schools in disadvantaged areas.
It revealed that 86 per cent of principals of DEIS schools compared to 52 per cent in nonDEIS schools reported finding their job very stressful.
A similar high rate of stress was recorded among principals of special schools.
However, the survey of almost 1,000 principals and teachers found teachers were less likely to indicate that their role was very stressful.
Teachers
One-fifth of primary teachers, one third of post-primary teachers and two-fifths of teachers in special schools reported high stress levels.
In another finding, over a third of primary school principals said they felt “not very” or “not at all” supported in their role, while one-fifth of secondary school principals reported the same lack of support.
The figure was even higher among principals of special schools at 60 per cent.
While a majority of principals reported being very satisfied with their job, more than 10 per cent of primary school principals felt dissatisfied in the role.