Scarcity of funding to tackle coastal erosion in ‘at risk’ areas

The Government has very little money to tackle coastal erosion in Kerry, despite admitting that a serious problem exists.

Brian Hayes, minister of state responsible for the Office of Public Works (OPW), has conceded that more than 100km of Kerry’s 684km coastline is at risk, based on previous studies.

He was replying to Independent Kerry TD Tom Fleming, who called for urgent action to deal with the problem.

“If remedial works are not carried out now, a lot more land will be lost to the sea and the elements,” said Mr Fleming.

“A huge amount of damage has been caused in recent years.”

Last month, there was a landslide at Sas Creek, near Mt Brandon on the Dingle Peninsula, and there are ongoing erosion issues in other parts of the peninsula, especially in the Maharees. In recent years, a large section of sand dunes at Rossbeigh, a popular beach area on the Ring of Kerry, has been washed away.

As well as that, leading Kerry golf clubs including Ballybunion, Tralee, Waterville, and Dooks have to make ongoing investments to protect their facilities from the sea.

Kerry County Council has spent millions on protecting roads, most notably the busy Killarney to Dingle tourist route, which has been undermined over the years at Inch.

The council has stressed that its priority is to safeguard roads, rather than other property, from erosion.

In the past two years, just over €1m has been spent in the Rossbeigh and Cromane areas of Mid-Kerry.

Mr Hayes, meanwhile, said 378km of Kerry’s coastline was classified as “soft”, with 108km identified as being “at risk”.

He also said anti-erosion work could be very costly and was, in some cases, difficult to justify on economic or environmental grounds.

“In some cases, a ‘do nothing’ or ‘no activation’ intervention approach might be the most appropriate management response and international studies have borne this out,” said Mr Hayes.

Local authorities can apply for funding under the OPW’s minor works programme for projects costing not more than €500,000.