Irish Examiner View: Turning the tide of coastal erosion

Join us for the [i]Irish Examiner's[/i] ‘Ocean Week 2020’.

Ocean Week 2020

There is a contradiction at the heart of our tourism policy. On the one hand, the Government is urging us to discover the beauty and heritage of our spectacular coastline but, on the other, it is reluctant to invest in the infrastructure that is so desperately needed to save it.

Some 20% of the coast is at risk of erosion — from human activity and extreme weather — while 6% is in immediate danger, according to Dr Eugene Farrell at the Department of Geography at NUI Galway. He warns that the coast faces a bleak future without investment, policy, and legislation.