Roughly an hour away from our door in Dublin is Brittas Bay Beach, which is pretty fantastic in my opinion.
4KM of beach. Sandy beach. With sand dunes. This is stuff great childhood memories are made of. Fantastic.
Now I've not had the chance to get into the water here, but it looks pretty good to me.... as long as I have my wet suit ;)
There are great facilities here too, a car park, lifeguards during the summer months and decent enough toilets WITH toilet paper. I would imagine the toilets are abused on busy days... sorry that's the cynic in me, so BYOP.
The notice board here is full of useful information also, including info to a website called www.jellyfish.ie. Who knew that existed, I didn't :)
There is also a but... the south car park costs 4 EUR to get into. OK, so the money goes towards the car park, the lifeguard and the toilet maintenance. But I do think this is a bit steep if you are just dropping in for a look. But if you are going for the whole day, its fine.
FYI the car park gates are unmanned and take coins, so make sure you have the right coinage with you before to depart for Brittas Bay. Also, the south car park closes at 8pm according to signs. read more