New access road for Wexford homes stranded at sea — ‘in high tide they have to walk through the water to get to their properties’

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Residents in five properties off the coast of Wexford will soon be able to access their homes without having to wade through the sea during high tides. The houses, which are located at Kilpatrick in the north of the county, have been the victim of severe coastal erosion in recent years, so much so that vehicular access had become dependent on the tides and weather.

However, at the July meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC), director of services Eamonn Hore confirmed that work was to commence on a new access road at Kilpatrick. The works will see 80m of rock armour installed at the beach to facilitate the new access point as well as the replacement of the existing culvert and realignment of the beach access ramp.

And, as he explained, it has been a long, hard-fought battle to find a solution which ticked all the requisite boxes.

“This has been going on since 2008 and several reports have been issued in that time,” he said at the July meeting of WCC. “There’s been revisions, designs, planning applications, meetings with property owners, with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), and this is the first time we’ve managed to get something that everyone is happy with including the Marine Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) and the department of housing.”

The design process was complicated further by a special area of conservation (SAC) at Kilpatrick Beach but Mr Hore said the works were “completely outside” the SAC and would not interfere with it.

Upon completion, the new road will provide much-needed access to five homes.

“There are five properties without access and in a high tide or a storm the residents literally have to walk through the sea to get to their properties, and there’s no vehicular access, no access for ambulances, during these times,” said Mr Hore. “This will bring a new access way to the first property and then the local people can use the access point on private lands in their own area, and this will provide access to all five properties.”

As per council protocol, the planning application for the works had to be approved by two councillors, and Councillors Donal Kenny and Joe Sullivan did the dutiful on this occasion.