Council condemns removal of coastal erosion defences at Portrane

FINGAL County Council has condemned the removal of part of the coastal erosion defence system at Burrow Beach, Portrane.

Over the weekend, a number of people are suspected of being involved in what Fingal council have described as “reckless damage” to the defence system in what is an environmentally sensitive location designated as a Special Protection Area.

A spokesperson described how the coastal defences were allegedly removed.

“Using heavy duty machinery, these individuals removed up to 70 Seabees, each weighing 1.5 tonnes, from the line installed by the Council this summer and placed them at the foot of the sand dunes near Beach Lane damaging the current dune system in the process,” the spokesperson said.

“The Gardai and the National Parks and Wildlife Service have been notified of the incident.

“While acutely aware of the dilemma currently facing some householders and business owners in Portrane, research has shown that localised ad-hoc solutions to preventing coastal erosion do not work and actually cause the dunes to become more vulnerable to damage from storms leading to accelerated erosion.

“The 1km line of almost 1,000 Seabees was placed in the optimum position to slow down the rate of erosion at Burrow Beach by specialist engineers from RPS, who have been working with the Council for several years on a long-term strategy for managing the erosion issues at Portrane.

“The Seabees cost €1.5m to install and there is a major fear that the units which were removed may now be unusable as specialist equipment had been required to move them into their original positions.

“The Council will incur significant costs to rectify this situation at a time when resources are under significant challenge because of the economic impact of Covid-19.”

The spokesperson described how the Seabees are an interim solution pending the installation of specially designed Y-shaped groynes structures which will be complimented by a beach renourishment scheme in order to achieve a suitable beach level.

This will reduce incident wave energy along the coastline by limiting the prevailing water depth and thus mitigating the threat of erosion.

Last month Fingal County Council held a series of live online information sessions with residents and business owners to brief them on the Coastal Flooding and Erosion Management Plan for Rogerstown Estuary.

In 2016, Fingal County Council established The Fingal Coastal Liaison Group in response to the ongoing concerns in relation to Coastal Erosion and Coastal Flooding in Fingal and to meet the need for a coherent structured response to address these concerns and improve communication between relevant stakeholders.

The Rogerstown Coastal Flood and Erosion Risk Management Plan can be viewed at https://consult.fingal.ie/en/consultation/coastal-defence-proposals-portrane-rush.