Coastal erosion fears on Valentia Island are putting, at risk, a joint Irish-Canadian bid for Unesco world heritage status for the historic sites of the first transatlantic cable link.

Valentia Island’s telecommunications history is “of outstanding universal value” and it should be inscribed as a Unesco world heritage site, 200 delegates at a convention will hear this weekend.

The successful laying 150 years ago of the undersea cable connecting the old world of Europe with the new world of America is being celebrated this week on Valentia Island.

When the first transatlantic telegraph cable was laid under the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and north America in the 1800s, it was even more revolutionary in its day than fibre optic transmission is now.