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“COME WITH ME on the most beautiful hike in Dublin,” a recent TikTok from a travel blogger began, before showing scenic pictures of Wicklow’s Bray to Greystones cliff walk – a trail which has been closed to the public for five years.
The cliff walk was closed by Wicklow County Council in 2021 due to a number of landslides along the seven kilometre-long route.
The Bray side of the trail is blocked off by a large rusty gate, but the vlogger said she saw locals cross the barriers, so she did too – something she was “so glad” she did.
“Technically there was a barrier on the way, but everyone I saw on the trail going both ways just went through it,” she said in her post.
The traveller isn’t the only one recommending the cliff walk; there are many similar videos on TikTok sharing the walk and providing tips to get around the barriers.
A freedom of information request from campaign group Friends of the Cliff Walk, seen by The Journal, found that the council has spent over €116,000 on barriers, signage and associated costs relating to the walk between May 2021 and June 2026.
But local Sinn Féin TD John Brady said that at this point, more people have been injured by the barriers than by the dangers that caused them to be put up.
The 7km trail winds around a steep, sheer edge with a drop to the Irish Sea and a DART railway line on one side. As well as climbing over tall fences, hikers are also walking outside barriers along the open cliff edge to do the walk at the moment.
Everyone agrees that the walk needs to be made safe – but the questions about how to do that have bogged plans down for five years.
A national taskforce, chaired by Tánaiste and local TD Simon Harris, established to reopen the cliff walk, said in December that it would aim to get the walk open by March 2026.
Cathaoirleach of Bray Municipal District and Green Party councillor Erika Doyle, who chairs the Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk Management Committee, said at the time that Harris’ target would be “extremely challenging” to meet.
Now, three months after the target passed, the cliff walk remains closed, and the Irish Independent recently reported that environmental constraints and planning requirements mean it might not reopen until 2029.
But clearly the closure isn’t stopping tourists and locals, particularly during the warm weather this summer.
Visiting the Bray entrance to the cliff walk, The Journal observed many people, mostly tourists, climbing the large barricades to do the walk.
Some people found crossing the barricade difficult and hurt themselves while doing so, while others turned back and found alternative routes to the trail head.
Speaking to The Journal, John Brady said that he wouldn’t encourage anyone to take “unnecessary risks” to do the cliff walk, adding that the danger arising from the continued use of the trail “copper-fasten” the need to ensure there is a focus on reopening.
“Unfortunately people are taking those risks, which comes with a lot of danger,” he said.
“More people have been injured as a result of the barriers that they put up, than as a result of the reason why they were put there in the first instance.”
Brady said that people have received “serious injuries” while climbing the barricades, including one man who he said was impaled while attempting to carry his bike over a barricade to cycle the cliff walk.
“There’s been some very, very serious injuries. I’ve heard of people at one point going around the outside of the fences, which overhang a very steep cliff. I don’t think anyone’s safety or life is worth this,” the TD said.
Brady said the lengthy time the walk has been closed is “deeply frustrating” for the Wicklow community, adding that businesses on both the Bray and Greystones side of the walk have seen a “serious financial hit” as a result of the closure.
He said there has been “political foot-dragging” on the issue and said an interim measure of moving a section of the walk further inland could have been taken to open the walk.
Peter Murtagh, spokesperson for Friends of the Cliff Walk, agreed that short-term measures should be implemented to reopen the walk while longer-term measures are carried out.
Speaking to The Journal, he said the barriers “represent a failed policy” that the council has “doggedly” continued with, rather than implementing interim measures.
“The policy has not stopped people doing the walk,” he added.
The campaigner said the walk is extremely beneficial to physical and mental public health, as well as the economy.
“We’ve lost over half a decade through this mismanagement. It’s a shame,” he added.
Wicklow County Council said: “Wicklow County Council does not comment on statements issued by public representatives.”
In its most recent statement on the walk, it said progress has been made, including ecological surveys, preparatory works, site walkovers, and the issuance of rope access proposals and a tendering draft to the National Parks and Wildlife Service and Irish Rail.
It said Erika Doyle welcomed the progress and said the Committee is united in its aim of working with the council towards safely reopening the walk.
“Wicklow County Council remains committed to progressing with the project in a diligent, safe and environmentally sound manner and in the shortest possible timeframe,” it said.
“The cliff walk remains closed due to the significant safety concerns. An alternative route is available.”
Simon Harris has been contacted for comment.
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