No project in place to protect Wexford homes from ‘erosion and flooding’ despite ‘informal’ talks with OPW

By Simon Bourke, Wexford People

Despite informal discussions taking place regarding coastal erosion and flooding concerns in Ballyhealy, south Wexford, there are still no plans in place to protect the homes most at risk in the area. Situated no more than 200 metres away from Seaview, where millions of Euro have been spent protecting the coastline, Ballyhealy is home to an elderly couple and a farm owner who has two houses at immediate risk of being subsumed by the sea.

At the January meeting of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) Councillor Frank Staples asked whether the council had any plans to protect Ballyhealy as it has done with Seaview.

“It doesn’t seem like we’re going to do anything about it, maybe it’s not deemed important enough,” noted Cllr Staples. “As I said before there’s two houses and a farm below sea level and if the water gets in on them it won’t come out. They’ve (the Fortune family) have spent more than €100,000 of their own money trying to keep out the sea, if they hadn’t done that they’d already have lost the houses.

“Are we making any progress on this, is there money available from the Office of Public Works (OPW) for works there?”

In response, environmental engineer Rory O’Mahony said senior officials in Wexford County Council (WCC) had “informally mentioned (Ballyhealy) to the OPW from the point of view of it not just being a coastal erosion issue but also a flooding one”.

"There’s no specific project outlined for it at the moment,” continued Mr O’Mahony. “I can bring it to our coastal engineer and see can we compile a proposal for works there to bring to the OPW.”

Advising that time was of the essence, Cllr Staples said this update would not be received well by those directly affected by the erosion in Ballyhealy.

“The people there are asking me for updates and every time I have to tell them we’re not doing anything about it.”

The Fortune family have grown potatoes in Kilmore for generations and, during that time, have watched as their land has gradually been lost to coastal erosion.

And while an extensive project to protect 14 houses is continuing less than 200 metres along the coast at Seaview, the Fortunes have taken to installing boulders on the beach to protect their lands, at a cost of €120,000

Speaking to this publication in January 2025, Mr Fortune said: “You can slow (the erosion) down, the work we’re doing will prolong it, but it won’t stick for more than a few years, the land is too low,” Chris says. “The erosion has increased, definitely, over the last 7-8 years – the storm in April 2023 was a really bad one, five or six metres of the land was lost, It would have been through already only for the works we’ve done, it would have been straight through, there’s no doubt in my mind.”

Noting that the public carpark used by visitors to Ballyhealy is on his land and that he has always facilitated any requests from the council regarding its use, Chris says he just wants some help in protecting the farm.

“We just want a bit of help, we’re willing to do the work ourselves, we’re not asking for someone to come down and do it all, we just want a bit of help. We’re willing to put our money where our mouth is, we’re not dictating, it’s not millions we’re talking about. The business is in jeopardy, there are 12 people employed here.”

With construction having begun on a new phase of works at Seaview, works which are estimated to cost €657,338 and will preserve the homes of the 14 families living there, Chris admits it’s somewhat galling to be left to fend for himself.