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InvestigatesCoastal ErosionA SMALL CO KERRY community group which saved its main road from being lost to the sea has urged the State to speed up decarbonisation.
Maharees Conservation Association (MCA) has warned that unless the government prioritises efforts to switch to a low carbon economy in line with climate action targets, vulnerable coastal areas are in danger of being wiped out.
“We can shift the chairs around as much as we want, we can have awareness days, but unless the State is investing in helping people to switch to non-fossil fuel powered cars and homes we are in big trouble,” Martha Farrell, MCA co-director, said.
“With a metre sea level rise locked in and the UN saying we’re headed for three degrees of warming, that metre isn’t going to stay a metre.
“Unless we have a transition to a low carbon economy… places like Maharees and Portrane have no hope.”
The group’s warning comes just days after The Journal Investigates revealed how an internal government report states the number of homes under threat from coastal erosion has risen by 173% in just five years.
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications document also stated that the number of roads currently under threat from being lost to the sea has more than doubled between 2017 and 2022.
Set up seven years ago by a small group of locals, MCA has been able to turn the tide on escalating erosion in the area by implementing nature-based solutions and encouraging regenerative tourism.
Between 2015 and 2016, the Dingle-Peninsula community saw its main coastal road blocked 17 times by drifting sand, escalating fears the road would soon be completely lost to the sea.
With the help of University of Galway dune scientist Eugene Farrell, volunteers planted marram grass and installed hundreds of metres of chestnut fencing to protect sand dunes.
Alongside other measures, such as restricting parking and access to sand dunes, the group’s efforts have slowed down shoreline erosion and led to the regeneration of critical natural defences.
“I would say that our road would definitely be gone at this stage if we didn’t stop what was happening,” Aidan O’Connor, MCA co-director, told The Journal Investigates.
“There’s some parts of the dunes that have grown 15 feet or more in the last six or seven years.”
Although the group’s intervention has slowed down erosion, it can’t stop it.
State support is needed to sustain such community-led climate action, the group said, and the decarbonisation of the country is vital.
“What we’re doing is keeping the community in as good a quality of life as we can, for as long as we can,” Farrell said.
We still have erosion, so any big storms, it will still take it out.
“It’s just we’re not seeing the devastation caused by the combined impacts of erosion and anthropogenic damage, which would be the people walking up and down the dune, weakening it. So we’ve taken that out of it.”
Leaving the dunes to their “own devices” in the summertime by erecting protective fences means that when winter arrives, erosion still happens but the area eventually recovers, Farrell said.
“The difference is night and day,” the MCA co-director explained.
“The sand dunes are really recovered, vegetated and stronger. You have a visiting community that really is supportive of us, because they understand now, but they probably didn’t at the start.
“We were fencing off areas of the dunes that were freely open to the public for years and they had that history of parking on a sand dune and enjoying it. Suddenly, that was taken away from them.”
Despite some feeling the group’s efforts were inconvenient and “futile”, within just one year the area visibly started to recover.
“We had a drone shot of the recovery, and you couldn’t argue with it,” said Farrell. “And I think that won us a lot of supporters.”
The group’s work has been held up as an example of how communities can work together to tackle climate change and its devastating local impact.
However, MCA says more government funding is needed to support this vital work.
Earlier this year, the group launched Neart na Machairí, a creative climate action project aimed at promoting coastal resilience.
Funded by Creative Ireland, the project is a partnership between MCA, the Dingle Hub and three embedded artists, Emer Fallon, Silke Michels and Zoe Uí Fhaoláin Green.
Through art, the project explores questions of long-range climate change adaptation, challenges, opportunities and how the community can ultimately become resilient.
“It’s difficult because it relies on volunteerism,” Zoe Rush, Neart na Machairí project designer, said.
“I think this is a huge thing that the State could be looking into and really trusting communities to be able to lead community action and climate action.”
Farrell said the innovative project has furthered the efforts of MCA by engaging the community in creative activities and fostering a deeper appreciation for the local environment.
“At the end of the day, all we have is each other as a community, and the project has brought us together,” she said.
Our investigation revealed that the number of homes at risk of falling into sea has jumped by 173% in five years. Read this now >>
Reporter: Patricia Devlin • Editor: Maria Delaney • Social Media: Sadbh Cox
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Makes you cry. Govt body keeping secrets, from the public.
@micheal duff: fix the pipes with your billions instead of spending on useless things.
hello ??.. ah yes there is nobody home… too busy with with rights and speech.
@micheal duff: I wonder Buster do the people you steal their profile picture know you use them on this site with your multiple profiles?
@micheal duff: so basically Journal Investigates in conjunction with Irish Water need to build a case for water levies directly on households and needs to build evidence through consumer complaints of unsustainable infrastructure in order to build that case to Gov, for to make another push to further this agenda.
Why didn’t the TDs and councillors direct their constituents to make a direct complaint? In fairness, everyone should know to make a complaint to the responsible entity – TD/councillor should only be a last resort. €30 compensation is an absolute insult and doesn’t even cover the time to make & follow up on the complaint. The attempt to block the foi request was equally pathetic – how can a state/semi state body claim that reporting the truth might be a bad thing? This country has really gone downhill.
@Social Guy: because once elected that was not their problem. not once they even made a statement about all that. they were forming a big gvt and got and still busy with speech rights and look after themselves. MM love nothing else to lecture everyone on international politics but never cared about the people. neutrality is not a concern either for him
@Social Guy: that’s how “national” politics work in this country… The gombeen way: fix the potholes and attend funerals.
I even know of a foreign (European) national getting his local TD to contact his embassy in Dublin to expedite a passport renewal. Seriously?
@Social Guy: Agree, but would like to add, 1) TD’s & local councillors more than likely don’t/didn’t know about the €30 compensation scheme, 2) people are getting lazy. If they can get someone else to complain on their behalf, it make life easy for them. The time it took to send a letter/email, or indeed, make an appointment to see their local government representative, they would have had a communication sent of to the company.
Just more fffg bolicitics. People, please relise fffg are a failure. They don’t care. It’s not rocket science.
@Paul Gorry: If they were a failure and the people realised it, how are they now in government again? Must be that people voted for them.
@Eoin McCarthy: No shi,t sherlock.
@Eoin McCarthy: people of this country are its own worst enemy…
Irish Water does not have customers. It is a state-owned Dept. Very unusual article. Because it’s a state owned dept, surely going your local representative is the correct move?
@pat fogarty: It’s not a department. It is a private company with the state as its largest shareholder. Company number 530363 (CRO).
@Stephen Fitzgerald: yes you are correct for the most part. Except for the “the state is its largest shareholder” don’t want to not pick but I think is important for everyone to know.
This is copied directly from Irish waters website on corporate governence –
“The shareholders of Uisce Éireann are the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and, on that basis, Uisce Éireann is a state-owned entity.”
So, the ONLY shareholders in uisce eireann are state bodies.
Ireland needs its very own DOGE, I can just imagine what corruption would come to light.
@Pelagius Asturias: never going to happen unfortunately
Our water filtration company from Wexford has proven in a year long pilot in Canada to prevent the carcinogenic chemical THM from forming in potable water.
In 2017 a prime time report stated over 170,000 people in Ireland were drinking water Exceeding the 100U/gl WHO guidelines for THM
After 7 months of paperwork we were granted a Zoom call with Uisce Éireann.
We offered to run a free pilot on any water treatment plant that was failing THM guidelines.
We were told that our proven filtration system would not work on THM’s in Ireland ?
They would not be taken us up on the offer of a free trial ?
We have offered free trials to Uisce Éireann on manganese and iron removal from potable Water which we have a proven to have a 90% reduction using our filtration system.
No reply to date?
@Les Walsh: that’s just weird and needs investigation
and Who set up Irish Water? TD’s and Senators along with the President signing stealth tax legislation on already crippled taxpayers.
In other words, ‘we don’t want people to know how big a problem it is because then they will know how big a problem it is’. Honestly, is there a single thing the government does well?
ireland + pharmaceutical =Dark waters
How can you get compensation for something you don’t pay for
@Max: I’m afraid that’s the country we live in now, want everything for nothing and compo for everything
@Martin Kenny: Guess you are retired with a good pension and maybe have a bit of property?
@donal finn: no, but please explain your reasons for that assumption
@Max: exactly.
@Martin Kenny: well said.How people come up with these assumptions is beyond me.Even if you were retired on a big pension and had property what has that got to do with it.
@Max: it’s long been established that we do pay for it through general taxation including, strangely ill admit, car tax….where do you think their funding comes from, the magic money tree…
@Max: you are entitled a good standard of customer service , which is in their charter. If they fail they pay.
@Max: if they failed to deliver proper customer service they pay.
Customers
Journal ‘reporter’? That’s a laugh. Get a proof reader while you are at it. FFG mouthpiece.
Is our water save to Drink ? is the question I want answered. I started drinking water from a “spring well” that is running constantly for the past few months and just the other day at work, I decided to get water from the cooler. Well, could I taste the difference. I thought I was back in the swimming pool where I swallowed the water there. OMG, is this safe I said to myself. 1st person I went to was one of our colleagues who is pregnant. Told her to stop drinking this water immediately and gave her directions to get the spring water to drink in future.
SSE Airtricity gas and electricity should be next up for an investigation into their so called customer service.
30 euro…. not worth 15 of my time
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