Irish Examiner view: Extend funding on coastal erosion project

Urgent need to extend deadline on funds for monitoring climate change effects on our coasts, in order to preserve our cultural record and heritage.

Part of Rosscarbery Pier collapsed into the sea back in February. It is thought coastal erosion is the cause. Picture: Andy Gibson.

Sat, 12 Jun, 2021 - 09:19

Climate change will be among the most pressing topics being discussed at the G7 summit in Cornwall. Today’s Forum illustrates in stark detail just how urgent that issue has become as increasingly frequent storms and rising seas erode our coasts, sweeping away centuries of maritime history and archaeology with it.

Last month, archaeological excavations at Doon Point promontory fort on the Dingle Peninsula proved to be a literal race against the tide as the Cherish Project worked to garner as much evidence as possible before it collapsed into the sea.

A significant portion of the site has fallen into the sea since the last survey in 1982, including the remains of a hut which the recent dig has shown was once inhabited by people possibly more than 2,000 years ago.

There are over 500 promontory forts in Ireland and all of them are heavily affected by coastal erosion. Only about 10 of those have been excavated, so time is running out if we are to cast light on these poorly understood structures.

The Cherish Project, an EU-funded programme, has been monitoring and studying the effects of climate change along the coasts of Ireland and Wales and, in doing so, preserving an important cultural record for future generations. The project is due to wind up in 2023. It seems more urgent than ever to extend that deadline.