At risk from the sea, Rossbeigh calls for EU action to halt damage

Worsening erosion at one of the country’s finest blue flag beaches has prompted calls for action at EU level to prevent more damage and flooding in communities now exposed to the vagaries of the sea.

The Government has made it clear it does not have the money — which could run into millions of euro — to stop sand dunes from disappearing at Rossbeigh, on the Ring of Kerry.

Local politicians are hoping to obtain EU funds and to have the constantly deteriorating situation treated as a pilot emergency project.

The sea broke through the dunes during a storm in Dec 2008, splitting the Rossbeigh Spit, a narrow peninsula, in two and creating a new island at the top of the spit.

The gap between the island and the spit continues to widen and is now around 700 metres.

In the words of one local, an area “the size of a farm of land” has vanished.

Meanwhile, the results of a study being carried out by Kerry County Council and UCC experts are still awaited.

Geologist Aidan Forde, who is not involved in the study, said what is happening in Rossbeigh might be “only a blip” in the 10,000-year history of the dunes.

“This could be just a snapshot in the system over a very long timescale. It’s a system that’s going to be changing all the time. What’s been happening over the last few years is not necessarily the beginning, or end, of a process,” he said.

“Rossbeigh might go back to the way it was, or it might change into something new. It’s totally unpredictable and a conjunction of a number of factors is at play.”

Mr Forde, who regularly runs on the beach, said factors involved included the flow of sediment from local rivers into the sea, the movements of the tide, sand being washed in and out, storms, and wind driving sand onshore.

Local residents are stepping up their campaign for urgent action and are becoming increasingly frustrated with what they see as a lack of action by the authorities.

Jimmy Healy, who has been observing the area for more than six decades, described the situation as “a stitch in time” and feared even more damage to the dunes.

“The dunes are disappearing at an unbelievable rate,” he said.

Cllr John Sheahan (FG), who raised the issue at last week’s council meeting, warned that several communities in low-lying areas, including Dooks and Cromane, could now be vulnerable to flooding.

The dunes had previously protected such areas from the sea, but they might now need rock armoury, he maintained.

“I grew up in the area and it’s very sad to see so much of the dunes being literally washed away,” Mr Sheahan said.

He has been in contact with MEP Sean Kelly with a view to obtaining EU funding, but conceded the EU would not be in a position to do anything until the expert study had been completed.

Local businessman Michael Cahill, an independent councillor, has been highlighting the erosion issue for decades. He said successive governments had ignored erosion and called for action at EU level.

“What’s important here is that if money is made available, it should be spent properly. We’re dealing with a very fragile situation here,” he said.

Mr Cahill said it was estimated around six million tonnes of sand disappeared from Rossbeigh and dreaded the possible results of another major storm.

“I think we’ve been lucky that there’s been no real storm since the breach in 2008 when we had high waves driven by a powerful wind. But the situation is changing week by week,” he said.

In its latest engineering report, Kerry County Council said the erosion problem at Rossbeigh was the result of natural phenomena. The nature of the sand spit made the area very susceptible to erosion and was a very difficult form of erosion to counteract.

“There are no obvious means of preventing the erosion that has occurred at Rossbeigh,” the council said. “The only possible alternative would require a large-scale and very expensive sand dredging and beach nourishment programme that would need to be repeated at regular intervals.

“Consultations with European experts confirmed the council view there is no practical remediation option available. We are also working with the Hydraulic and Maritime Research Centre (HMRC), in UCC, on a detailed study of the area to better understand the erosion mechanism at play.”

The council also said it could not commit to any action until the results of the study were available.

“Without a comprehensive understanding of the erosion mechanism at play, any actions we take are likely to fail or cause significant damage elsewhere.”