Munster properties among most exposed to 'immense' coastal erosion threat

A report from the University of Galway calls for legislation to address coastal change and planned relocation, as well as creating a framework for compensation

Some of the 12 coastal Pilmore Cottages near Youghal in Co Cork where coastal erosion has removed sections of the beach and dunes leaving the access road open to high winter waves and flooding. Picture: Larry Cummins

The thousands of properties currently at risk of coastal erosion across the country “could quadruple" in the coming decades, with Cork, Kerry, and Waterford among the most vulnerable.

A new report from the University of Galway, commissioned by the Climate Change Advisory Council, highlighted that the scale of threat from coastal erosion is “immense” and the absence of a “binding framework for retreat has left the State in a cycle of ad hoc reactive engineering and unmanaged loss”.