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InvestigatesCoastal ErosionTHE NUMBER OF homes at risk of falling into the sea due to coastal erosion has jumped by 173% in just five years, The Journal Investigates can reveal.
The huge hike is detailed in an internal Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) report which warns 2,279 properties are currently in danger from eroding shorelines — an increase of 1,445 since 2017.
The report, obtained by The Journal Investigates, said the surge of impacted homes is “likely an underestimate”, as just half of local authorities impacted by coastal erosion were able to provide data.
The figures are based on a Climate Action Regional Office (CARO) study of Ireland’s 19 coastal councils, which found a 58% increase in properties lost to the sea between 2017 and 2022.
It also found that five councils are still allowing residential and commercial premises to be built on erosion hotspots.
Details of the internal DECC document can be brought to light as The Journal Investigates reveals how experts believe a lack of government action to date means little can now be done to save vulnerable coastal properties and roads.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) said while it is responsible for the “technical aspects of assessing coastal change impacts”, matters associated with coastal change and erosion are “generally” the responsibility of local authorities.
According to the DECC commissioned report, councils now predict that by 2050, thousands more properties will be at risk – 4,446 nationally – an increase of 2,167 from previous estimates.
Approximately 570.5 km of roads have also been deemed in danger, an increase of 265 km since 2017, the report stated.
“Again, this is the best estimate only and likely an underestimate given that only 10 of the 19 Local Authorities responded to this particular question,” it said.
Of the councils surveyed, 14 said coastal erosion had worsened in their areas.
“This shows the huge challenge currently facing coastal local authorities, which will only escalate into the future with the predicted increase and frequency in storm surges and sea-level rise,” it added.
The report concluded that a lack of resources, “varied” council approaches to erosion, along with a lack of national guidance was negatively impacting on how local authorities dealt with the problem.
It recommended that a scoping study be carried out alongside the affected councils, with delivery of a guidance document as a “first step” to develop a training programme for local authorities.
“The problem is such a local level problem, but we need an all Ireland approach to this,” Mary Bourke, Associate Professor of Geography at Trinity College Dublin, told The Journal Investigates.
“Our coastline doesn’t recognise local borders, whether council borders or national borders.”
Bourke emphasised the ineffectiveness of long-term erosion prevention and the high costs of short-term solutions.
“I think we all need to recognise that we’re in a phase of adapting, rather than fixing or engineering our landscape,” she said.
There’s just so little that can be effectively done.
“We can stop erosion for a number of years, but they’re not enough.
“They’re not enough for your families to grow up. Eventually, your home will erode into the sea depending on where you live,” she said.
The Trinity academic said that realistically, the government should be looking at implementing managed retreat in Ireland’s worst affected areas, including the hard hit east coast.
“The reality is, I don’t think that there is a lot that can be done, and I feel so sad for the people who live there and who invested there,” she said.
“My advice going forward in the future is, do not buy property close to the coastline unless you’re prepared to lose it and maybe very, very quickly.”
One north Co Dublin coastal community knows the devastating impact of coastal erosion all too well.
Since 2020, residents of The Burrow in Portrane have watched helplessly on as their homes edge closer and closer to the sea.
Entire gardens have been lost, and at least one homeowner has been forced to abandon their property.
Despite the situation being described as a “critical emergency” by Duncan Smith TD in Dáil Éireann earlier this year, impacted residents say they have been left in limbo by authorities.
Louise Duffy, whose home is one of those affected, said:
I think there’s a feeling that we’re just kind of being strung along.
“And to be honest, even at the time, if they had been honest with us and said, we’re not going to do anything here, we would have preferred that.”
Fingal County Council said it has put emergency interventions in place in the area while it awaits planning permission for longer term measures to prevent erosion.
One intervention being used by the council – which says coastal erosion is the remit of OPW – is the installation of large concrete blocks along the beach.
Known as ‘Sea Bees’, the blocks break the force of the waves hitting the long line of properties overlooking the Irish Sea.
However, the blocks don’t cover all properties at risk, and while temporarily protecting some homes, the structures have heightened erosion around others, according to some residents.
“The force of the waves hitting the Sea Bees where they are was driving it down our end of the beach,” Duffy explained.
“So it was making the rate of erosion faster on the dunes in front of our homes.”
In September, Fingal informed its Coastal Liaison Committee that six properties along Portrane’s Brook Beach are now in “imminent danger”.
“We have reached crisis point in Portrane,” Corina Johnston, a councillor for the area, told The Journal Investigates.
“Unless emergency coastal protection measures are carried out along the beach and an alternative access route is found for the homes fronting Beach Lane, it is inevitable that a number of homes will have to be evacuated.”
The council told the committee that it had applied to Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) for a Coastal Flooding and Erosion Risk Management (CFERM) Project at The Burrow in July.
Should it be approved, a planning application for a permanent Coastal Protection Scheme will be submitted to the An Bord Pleanála, the council said.
However, any permanent scheme could be “years away” from completion, Johnston said.
“Duncan Smith TD raised the need for emergency protection measures with the Tanaiste in Dáil Éireann last April,” the Labour councillor said.
“Arising from this intervention, the OPW in further response confirmed it is open to Fingal County Council to seek additional funding for emergency works through The Minor Flood Mitigation Works and Coastal Protection Scheme. “
However, for some Portrane residents, it is already too late.
Louise Duffy is now moving away from the area after resigning herself to the fact her home will eventually be lost to the sea. She told The Journal Investigates:
It’s not if, it’s when.
“I’m lucky in that I don’t have the financial burden of a mortgage, it’s more the emotional attachment of losing our family home.
“But there are neighbours that have mortgages, and they’ll just have to walk away from their house and have a massive debt.
“And there’s no talk of any financial compensation for when the houses do go.”
In response, a Fingal County Council spokesperson told The Journal Investigates that it is in “regular contact” with the community about the issues raised over erosion.
“The Council, in consultation with its specialist consultants and other relevant stakeholders, is continuing to assess options for the protection of the coastline at the Burrow Beach having regard to the particular constraints which apply at this location,” the spokesperson added.
The Journal Investigates asked the OPW what it was doing to address the community’s concerns about the future of their homes, and the area.
A spokesperson said the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, had personally addressed the matter in Dáil Éireann last month.
In response to a question by Dublin-Fingal TD Duncan Smith, O’Brien said he had met with, and visited residents in The Burrow as recently as the summer.
“Fingal County Council has been engaged in developing solutions to respond to the coastal erosion issues in Portrane for a number of years,” he said.
“Other coastal risks such as related to transport, agricultural, business, are addressed locally and through sectoral responses.”
Responding to the national challenges of coastal erosion, O’Brien stated “there is a need for a framework to inform key decisions as to how the State should best manage its changing coast having regard to such future risks.”
Fingal is one of a number of councils which continue to approve planning applications on vulnerable coastlines.
When asked by The Journal Investigates how many it had approved or rejected in areas where coastal erosion has been identified between 2021 and 2024, a spokesperson was unable to provide us with any data.
However, the council added: “All planning applications are publicly available via our online planning portal, and show what has been given approval or what has been rejected.”
Joan Hopkins, a Social Democrats representative on the council, said over 4,000 homes and businesses are located on the Fingal coastline.
“We already have a legacy issue where we have homes beside the coast that we need to protect, but on top of that, we’re building more houses on the coast,” she said.
“It’s just not practical to build as close to the coast, and governments are still allowing that to happen, Fingal are still giving planning permission for buildings beside the sea.
We need to be thinking about, not even long term, but the medium term and that’s not just in Fingal, but across Ireland.
In response, a Fingal spokesperson said planning applications are assessed on “their merits having regard to the relevant planning regulations and local planning requirements and the need for sustainable development”.
We also asked the other 18 coastal councils for the number of planning applications approved or rejected in erosion hotspots.
The majority were unable to provide any data, stating that they don’t keep databases on planning permissions approved or rejected in areas of coastal erosion, or for reasons of erosion.
Wexford County Council confirmed it had approved one planning application in that timeframe, and refused five others.
Sligo County Council said it had granted and refused zero applications, stating it does not approve building or development within 100 metres of a soft shoreline.
Clare County Council said it was unable to provide exact data on applications but confirmed that of the 22 properties currently at risk from erosion in the area, 10 are located within areas zoned for housing.
While Louth County Council said new developments within 100m of the coastline are prohibited unless it scientifically proven that the “likelihood of erosion at a specific location is minimal taking into account, inter alia, any impacts”.
Describing the continued building and development on vulnerable coastal areas as “frankly irresponsible”, Bourke said nature should be allowed to take its course.
“I mean, I know we need homes, but there’s no point in building on our flood plains, there’s no point in building in coastal areas that are actively retreating, these need to be set aside,” she said.
“One of the things you can do is, you can let nature do what it’s going to do, and it has a way of balancing itself out, reaching an equilibrium.”
Reporter: Patricia Devlin • Editor: Maria Delaney • Video Production: Nicky Ryan • Social Media: Sadbh Cox • Main Image Design: Lorcan O’Reilly
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They will be telling us next, the reason there’s a housing shortage is, that too many fell into the sea.
@Patrick Westman: surely there’s a tax that could sort it
@james rowan: … 65 m high … and pumps behind it.And power plants to run the pumps?
If a someone buys a house or buys one that close to the ocean then what do they expect? This has happened since time immemorial,
@Ned: we didn’t ask for the fancy worlds ned flanders
@Ned: Exactly,check the map set a 3m (min. sea level rise by 2000):
That would be then twice a day at ‘normal’ tidal situations.
@Maximilian Kolbe: what in heaven’s name are you talking about?
Apparently the Maldives were meant to have been slowly disappearing, however amazingly have actually increased in their land mass over the last 20 years …. sshhhhhh don’t tell anyone.
@Alex: Yes, but the amount of land is tiny and uninhabitable, but let the people wait so that they can move that’s a great solution.
Pure nonsense, do you think that banks would handing out 30/40 years mortgages if homes were going to be submerged
@Brian Molloy: Please God, Portmarnick(sic) Malahyde(sic) Dawlkey (sic) etc: etc; will all fall into the sea and save us from pretentious millionaires. And don’t mention D4 ite Connemara, or Limerick laden Kilkee, or Shinnerbased Donegal. God Save Ireland.
@Brian Molloy: Yes
@Sean O’Callaghan: Fair bit of begrudgery in that post.
@Sean O’Callaghan: there’s council housing in malahide
@Sean O’Callaghan: not a nice person, are you.
@Sean O’Callaghan: the chip on your shoulder is showing. You should try getting a life.
@Sean O’Callaghan: where are you from Sean? Did you work for your own home? Get off your ar*e and someday you might be able to have the option of an expensive house with a nice address. Most people that do probably work 60 hours a week. If they don’t then their parents before them probably did.
Parts of the city of Alexander’s lie under water. This is after 300BC but before climate change. So, the sea rises, and will rise, and will continue to rise whether we burn fossil fuels or not.
@AnthonyK: Now, according to you sea level is rising but @alex above is saying it’s falling. Both if you are using these ‘facts’ to counter climate change arguments. So which us it? Rising or falling?
The reason properties in North Dublin and Wexford are falling into the sea isn’t anything to do with sea level changes! It’s erosion. The coastal profile in these locations isn’t rocky of any nature but clay and marl. And it erodes easily. And if you think it’s bad here in parts of the east of England up to 8km have disappeared over the last 500 years. So whether you understand climate change or think tinfoil hats are a good look all of this is due to erosion.
@Me Me: Not great on the south coast of the UK either. That land is essentially chalk and it literally falling into the sea .
An insurance broker recently told me that insurance premiums for property that is close to the sea might start increasing, they said it has happened yet but there are rumblings in the industry and a friend in the UK said his insurance has gone up as his house is in a coastal area.
@Me Me: Erosion mostly caused by storms surely.
But the frequency and severity of storms are increasing due to Climate Changes.
Near sea level land, such as most cities, will lose out due to rising sea levels though.
@Me Me: Eeh,let’s look at the facts:
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2022/0923/1294792-rising-sea-levels-dublin-cork-ireland/
@Me Me: The ’cause of’ them falling into the sea, is erosion.
‘The reason’ is a definite policy of inaction, at least on the side of Fingal CoCo. They deliberately did nothing for the last 30 years. There is one case where they prosecuted a resident for dropping concrete cubes off the end of his garden in a desperate effort to slow the loss.
There were photos in the paper of them removing them from the beach, because they didn’t look nice. Forward thinking 30 years ago should have pile driven concrete pillars into the ground 5 or 10 meters back from the edge all along the residential area in Portrane and they wouldn’t have to be worrying now.
When will the government introduce an erosion tax?
@Kieran Menon: not until the greens rise from the ashes unless ROG can work a miracle.
David Jordan will be in links heaven with this new info. Recently Obama, Bezos and Oprah Whinfrey aquired property at seaside locations.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Your argument seems to be to throw personal insults at anyone you don’t agree with. This is a well-known trait of the far left. If you think someone is wrong. Try and educate them.
@David S: I’m certainly not far left as for educating them, there isn’t a hope of these types being educated. ” You can’t put in what God left out.”
Free speech is very important, however when it’s used for hate or other nefarious things I’ll treat these types with the contempt they deserve. They are a blight on society not just here but also the world over.
@David S: Gasslighting comment,you could spend every hour of every day trying to educate the right wing smoothies but they will learn not one thing.
@David S: I have to defend Paul here.I have had a few debates with him here on the journal and even though we had our disagreements he has always been fair and theres been no personal insults.
@Willie Marty: Thanks, Dude. I do sometimes lose the rag , as I don’t think nor believe that as a country who’s her sons and daughters left and shaped the world for the better should be so contrian in the manner we have become.
We are Irish and our DNA is a miss mash of at least 8 cultures the true Irish were found in Ballycastle under the flags of a pub , in 2017 a study began and it was found there about 10,000 of true Irish then Celts , Vikings , British , American shaped us …so thus my rage about the “watering down” of our culture.
We really need to stop this on a global level too….
People don’t understand percentage statistics when they are used in this clickbait fashion.For example if the chance of this happening to a property was .001% and it increased to a measly .002% the media reports is as a 100% percent increase.It’s technically true but it’s completely misleading.Health articles are guilty of this every day.If your chances of getting cancer depending on a certain variable go from half a percent chance to three quarters of a percent chance it will be reported as a FIFTY PERCENT INCREASE!!! even though the chance is still now only less than one percent.Once you notice this misleading tactic you see it constantly everywhere
@Johnny King: Well said. If a price is reduced by 50% and then increased by 100% it’s just back to where it started.
@Marjory: the brits left the 26 counties almost 100 years ago, only the 6 counties now have outside influence unless your talking about how people are using less and less of our national language and being more and more influenced by the far right hatred being spouted by some people . You are right we have to save people from the hate and the Americanisation of society
@Marjory: Views or hatred of other people who aren’t Irish? Views I have no issue with, hatred I do , and hatred to people just because of skin colour, ethnic background, etc. I really have an issue with it. Your post is akin to what was said about the Jews in Germany in the run up to World War 2 . You have shown that you believe that our culture is going to disappear, which, like all right-wing, idealogy is false.
People, no matter where they are from, deserve respect unless they show you or our country disrespect, and since immigration has increased the disrespect from immigrants doesn’t seem to warrant the abuse that you and your ilk have thrown at these people.
Nice bed time reading guys. Thanks. You could flesh it out nicely with a paragraph on tsunamis.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Wow, you’re SO intelligent.
I often wonder what it is with the modern progressive that whenever they encounter anyone with views that don’t tally with theirs, they resort to the “you’re stupid” argument.
WHOOOOOOO LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE UNDER THE SEA?
Brennie.
It’s not really a county council issue is it; these homes are right next to the sea which the council can’t really stop. The cost of building giant sea barriers or whatever is not going to be worth it for a few homeowners. They unfortunately look like they are going to have to just watch and wait until it’s time to move.
@Marjory: there is zero mention of climate change in the entire article. The only thing that is obvious here is your paranoia and racism.
The article is about coastal erosion. I assume you believe that is also “claptrap” and some conspiracy. Perhaps go tell this to those who are seeing their homes disappear under the waves. Unbelievable the type of gowls that use this site sometimes…
This is unfortunate, but it’s not a new story. As long as people have built houses by the sea, the sea has eventually taken them back. Over thousands of years, the land has been claimed by the relentless power of the waves, and that will never change. Now, with the serious storms we’re seeing more often, the erosion rate is only speeding up. Ireland’s geology plays a big part in this—our coastlines are a mix of hard cliffs and soft, vulnerable soils. Places like the Cliffs of Moher stand strong, but softer shores don’t stand a chance against the rising seas and pounding storms.
Complete Bullpoop. Probably the first time they did a survey in decades and they came up.with this.
No problem building down the docks and right at sea level. Also the Greens wanted to build 4000 houses in Sandymount, will ya just stop with the fear mongering thrash.
It’s worth pointing out that the “concrete blocks” shown in the photo of Portrane Beach above are called “Sea Bees” and have been installed incorrectly by the council who claim they’re prevented from taking action to stop the erosion by some EU directive and that they can only take measures to slow down the erosion. We’ve lost 20 to 30 feet of coastline in the 8 years I’ve lived in the area.
(Please don’t take this as an anti-EU post btw)
What about the houses dissolving from all the acid rain. What a load of rubbish.
@Stephen Dunne: Yep. Rubbish. Complete rubbish. What you are saying is total and complete unadulterated rubbish, and the reason more and more people are leaving many public forums.
I’ll give my opinion on this on Thursday. Thanks everyone.
People make bad choices. If you decide to build a house, on soft soil, close to the beach, you have made a decision to apply for planning permission, you get it, go ahead and build, and then you want the council to compensate you for your bad decisions. Houses have been in danger in Portrane since the 60s, yet people went on building, some without planning permission. Now they want the taxpayer to bail them out.
@Anne Collins: Donegal did the same and we bailing them out
Lets act fast save millionaires houses. Lol.
@Marjory: “demographic profile of the country is being irreversibly mutilated” is overtly racist. So, you can go ahead a spare everyone your bigoted view points. You have no right to dictate what the “demographic profile” of this or any country looks like. Scream and shout all you want, your view is basic, lacks facts, and simply poorly refined racism.
@Stig Bubblecard: Well said.
@james rowan: Indeed you are
Property prices are plummeting in coastal areas….
@Dave Grant: Are you joking they are at least 30% higher, we have been looking for 2 years…
It’s TS for these homeowners unfortunately. No amount of coastal
defences will save these homes.
Only tds and ministers houses and friends will be saved
Meath county council and the OPW just spent millions on a new library in Bettystown right on the sea with ZERO coastal erosion defence investment in the area. Apparently It’s severely over budget and late to open.
1 or 2 storm surges and it will be either gone or severely damaged.
And yet planning is granted to build, sell, mortgage houses in floodplains… Pitty about the insurance…
The Cork City climate adaption plan 2024 includes building more homes along the coast.Well insulated of course.
@Juri Hertel: with built in buoyancy aids?
have your say