€650,000 allocated for repair of sea wall in Youghal

The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has allocated €650,000 for the completion of repairs to a sea wall in an east Cork seaside town.

The 40-metre section at Lighthouse Hill, Youghal, was deemed to be unstable last October, just as restoration work on an adjacent eight-metre segment was completed.

The scenic area, close to Youghal lighthouse, runs parallel to a 30-metre drop onto rocks. Popular with walker and joggers, it serves as the main link between the town centre and Youghal’s Front Strand.

A single-lane traffic management system has been in operation since the original wall collapse in May 2012, and traders in the Strand say this has had a devastating effect on business, with drivers opting for alternative routes. The businesses were poised to bring a delegation to County Hall.

The work is expected to take up to 16 weeks to complete.

Youghal Mayor Sammy Revins, who runs a butcher’s shop in the Strand, has welcomed the grant aid “as wonderful news for the Strand and for the town as a whole”.

Town clerk Helen Mulcahy said the news “will come as a great relief to everyone in the town”.

A spokesman for Cork County Council says the work will now undergo a two-month tender process but that work may begin “in and around May”.

The spokesman says that two nearby viewing balconies that have been cordoned off for some years due to safety concerns will not be included in the contract.

With coastal erosion increasingly evident, Youghal Town Council favours demolishing the deteriorating and unsightly balconies, but the decision resides with Cork County Council.

The grant comes prior to €4.4m main drainage project for the town commencing from the Strand next month. The spokesman says the drainage scheme can leapfrog any work undertaken on the sea wall and return to the area later.