Rosslare residents warn of land at risk of erosion

Residents in Rosslare, County Wexford have warned they are at risk of losing their property to the sea due to worsening coastal erosion.

Increasing frequency and intensity of storms are having a devastating impact on Wexford’s soft coastline, including Rosslare Strand and Ballyhealy Beach.

Home and business owners there say extreme weather events such as Storm Claudia in November 2025, Storm Brum last December, and more recently Storm Chandra have further exacerbated the loss of beach and dune material to the ocean.

Some residents said they feared their properties would not survive another winter.

Bill Kelly is the owner of Kelly’s Resort Hotel, first established on Rosslare Strand in 1895.

He said the beach, which is the backdrop for his family’s business, has become smaller and smaller over the years, receding into the sea.

“I’m very worried.

“We employ more than 260 people here at Kelly’s Resort Hotel.

“Just the fact that we had a storm in early February and saw that the embankment was eroding within 3 to 4 meters of the hotel building is a huge concern for us,” he said.

Mr Kelly said he was calling for urgent coastal protection works to be carried out at Rosslare Beach, but long-term solutions needed to be put in place urgently.

He said he received a phone call last week from Ministers Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran and James Brown who told him that “interim funding is in place to support the protection of Rosslare Beach ahead of the commencement of capital projects”.

“But capital projects are extremely important to us going forward,” he said.

“The replenishment of the coast and the extension of the rock wall to Rosslare Beach will require a huge investment of between €7 million and €12 million,” he added.

Mr Kelly said: “That is essential to the continued viability of Rosslare.”

And Michael and Rosemary O’Connell, who have lived in Rosslare for almost 40 years, said the threat posed to their property by coastal erosion was worse than ever.

“We feel extremely vulnerable to the ocean right now, and the damage is right at our back door,” O’Connell said.

“A large part of the coast has been destroyed and we feel we need to do something about it.

“It’s urgent.

“You never know when damage could have a devastating impact on many people here.”

“This is the worst damage we’ve seen from the last two storms,” ​​O’Connell said.

“There’s a lot of erosion and a lot of rocks being brought onto the beach.”

He added: “When you come out of the parking lot, all you see are stones and rocks, and then the sand has eroded away.”

“We need to do something quickly,” he said.

Local councilor Lisa McDonald, who represents Rosslare city ward, echoed these concerns.

“I’ve been raising this issue for years. I’ve been telling people, we’re one minute past midnight right now, but the damage has been done and we can see the damage being done.”

“This year, for the first time, we witnessed meters being removed from the dunes within a few weeks of February.

“We have seen first-hand what the consequences of inaction are. If we do not act, the consequences will be devastating.”

A Fianna Fail councilor said recent funding to implement interim safeguards was welcome, but things were not moving fast enough.

She said: “It was in 2018 that the government announced they were going to give us some funding for a major scheme and that’s still going on.” [planning].

“Here on Main Beach, we need to nourish the beach, we need new sand.

“The rock jetty was last observed in the 1990s and no maintenance has been carried out since then.

“I think there’s a big concern that if we get another storm here, especially one in the northeast, we won’t be able to withstand it.”

Ms MacDonald added: “There are huge concerns about the damage it will cause and the impact it will have on tourism in Rosslare Strand.”

“It’s also influenced by the fact that local people feel very connected to their beaches and amenities such as Kelly’s and the main village,” she said.

“If the intense and unrelenting storms we saw continue, they may not survive,” she added.

The city councilor said, “I understand that “one-off weather events” like this have been going on for several years, and that “one-off weather events” like this will become the norm in the future.

Wexford County Council Chief Executive Eddie Taaffe said the existing coastal defenses along Rosslare Strand were damaged and needed to be repaired urgently.

Mr Taaffe confirmed that the city council had agreed emergency funding of €600,000 from the Office of Public Works (OPW) and plans to begin these repair works in September this year, ahead of next year’s winter storms.

“We will be introducing additional rock armor as an interim measure to get us through the next few years until a permanent plan is finalized and we are working on the same and hope to get into that planning process.” [permanent scheme] Later this year,” he said.

Mr Taaffe also outlined details of how the council hopes to permanently address the issue.

He said: “We have identified a more favorable solution for a permanent plan.

“Currently, that plan is around €15-20 million. So it is a significant plan, but it is justified here given the importance of the beach and the importance of protecting Rosslare Strand from climate change and coastal erosion.”

“It includes additional rock groins, like rock piers that jut out into the sea, and then build up the beach with beach nourishment behind it.

“The idea is to build a beach and build a limited amount of rock armor at the toe of the dune to protect it from further erosion.”

“The real solution here is to nourish and build up these rock irregularities, the beaches, to prevent waves from reaching the dune structures,” Taaffe said.

The implementation of this permanent solution is being managed through a project steering group comprised of representatives from both Wexford County Council and the OPW.

An OPW spokesperson said the Rosslare Coastal Erosion and Flood Relief Plan was likely to include rock revetments, groins, an extensive coastal nourishment program and embankment works at Barrow Road.

The scheme consists of two elements of work: work to address flooding on the west side of the scheme (Barrow Road) and work to address coastal erosion on the east side of the scheme.

“Draft options reports have been prepared by the scheme’s consultants for both the Western and Eastern sides in 2025,” an OPW spokesperson said in a statement.

“Following discussions with the National Parks and Wildlife Service regarding potential options, further amendments to the options report are currently being undertaken.

“It is currently believed that the options report will be completed in the second quarter of 2026.

“The preferred design option will result in amendments to the project budget, but the plan currently has an approved project budget of approximately €7.6 million.

“Funding for this scheme is provided under the National Development Plan.

“The economic viability of the preferred option is evaluated through the cost-benefit ratio, in line with established practice for engineering projects of this type.”