Fears in one of Cork’s top coastal destinations that silt build-up in harbour is threatening tourism

By Peter McCarthy, Corkman

Councillors in Kinsale have voiced concerns that increasingly severe silting in the inner harbour will impact the West Cork’s town’s sailing and tourism activities if it’s not tackled soon.

Speaking at this week’s meeting of the Western Division of Cork County Council, Cllr Ann Bambury said she has had numerous conversations with Kinsale Yacht Club over the issue.

“The marina has had silting issues for over five years, it's not just specific to the yacht club but it is positioned inside the harbour where sediment naturally settles so it feels the impact of silting earlier and more severely than other harbour users.”

The Bandon-Kinsale councillor said the build-up of silt is impacting the yacht club’s activities, including its work with children. “They run a program there as part of the Cork Sports Partnership that I’ve seen first-hand myself, the absolute wonderful Sailability program that allows children of all abilities to participate in water sports. The silting is going to have a huge effect on these things happening and vital programs in the community. What I'm hearing from a tourism perspective as well is that it's going to hinder our tourism for Kinsale.”

Cllr Marie O’Sullivan agreed, saying: “It’s down to real economics now at this stage because they're going to be losing out money on berths and they won't have space for boats that are sailing in during the summer, visitors coming to the town.”

She said the harbour provides sailing classes throughout the year and is also used by local schools for transition year activities. “It's a big focal point in the town so I'd appreciate any movement on this,” she said.

Cllr Bambury told the Irish Independent that Cork County Council officials have confirmed that they’ve carried out a scoping exercise in the harbour. The Social Democrats councillor is calling for immediate action before “tourism and local commerce suffer,” adding that if the problem continues, “the reputation for Kinsale Harbour will be diminished.”