Clontarf councillor ‘exasperated’ with ongoing sandbags saga
The saga of the Clontarf sandbags continues as an interim solution only delays things further, according to a local councillor.
Green Party Councillor Donna Cooney has expressed her disappointment that the Clontarf Promenade Interim Flood Defence Consideration held on Tuesday didn’t offer any permanent resolutions. With temporary sandbags first placed along the promenade in 2013, she said Dublin City Council appear to be replacing one short-term solution with another.
Finding an appropriate flood defence system has been an ongoing issue for the Clontarf community for over a decade, as local representatives and residents have sought a way to protect the area from flooding in a way that is also aesthetically pleasing. While the sandbags acted as a makeshift solution, they have long been derided as eyesores that don’t best represent the suburb.
Cllr Cooney has called the delays “exasperating,” but expressed relief that new proposals means there’s been “some development” after so many years. While she said she was hoping all interested parties could arrive at an “integrated system” to solve the issue, “instead, it’s all this hullabaloo about some temporary solutions.”
“My take is ‘will that take pressure off putting in the permanent one?’” Cllr Cooney asked. “It’s in the development plan that we would have a flood defence by term which ends in 2028.
“It’s 2025 and they’re talking about putting in some concrete things to replace the sandbags. If it was about replacing the sandbags that should have been done years ago. We’ve had them for 14 years at this point.”
Cllr Cooney said she remembers asking for the sandbags to be removed and replaced with something “more attractive” as far back as 2014, when the Giro D'Italia Grand Tour cycling race passed through Clontarf. She said: “I said the eyes of the world are on us because there’s a major event going through Clontarf and you just see these ugly sandbags.”
Other instances like the millennium commemoration of the Battle of Clontarf also saw no development on the campaign to replace the sandbags. “We couldn't get them to do anything then,” she explained.
Cllr Cooney claims there were periods where the consultation group were asking for a meeting for more than 18 months and to push forward with a temporary replacement for the sandbags would cause further delay to the finally moving on from the issue. She said: “It’s not just about getting rid of the sandbags. It’s about getting a proper design that’s agreed on.”
Ultimately, it’s about being prepared for a major flood, Cllr Cooney said, and having the means to protect the community and vulnerable people in an emergency situation. “The delay is frustrating and I think they shouldn’t have pulled the initial design that would have got rid of the sandbags years ago, but we are where we are,” Cllr Cooney said.
A statement from Dublin City Council Chief Executive Richard Shakespeare from November 2024 defended the use of sandbags as a viable means of flood defence. “The sandbags form a significant flood defence for businesses and residents in the area and must remain in place until more substantial permanent tidal flood barriers can be installed,” he stated at the time.
“We have looked at a large number of alternative options suggested by residents and Councillors but none to date have proved to be feasible.”
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