Complaints of beach smell

Residents in the seaside village of Blackrock, Co Louth, have been complaining about a foul smell from their local beach. The source appears to be black seaweed which has formed sludge-like pools along the length of the beach. "For two days last week the council had a JCB here from 6 a.m. until lunchtime clearing it away. The beach was black. The smell was vulgar," said postmaster Mr Gerry Rogers yesterday.