Magical summer is here and people are heading toward the coast

Summer is here, at last, and with it comes the magnetic pull of the sea, writes Donal Hickey

As a child, the first glimpse of waves each year at Rossbeigh, on the Ring of Kerry, brought a thrill that has not dimmed with time. The whiff of salty air, Atlantic breakers crashing against the shoreline, the laughter of playing children on a crowded beach. All part of the magic of the coast.

Ireland has over 7,500km of coastline and no part of the country is more than 100km from the sea. The coast is a natural part of life for many here, with about half of us living within 10km of it. Land and sea are interwoven.