Wexford fights ‘unique hazard’ of coastal erosion with boulders, mud – and drones
Having been described as “the ground zero for climate change in Ireland”, Co Wexford continues to bear the scars of the increasing storms, rainfall and extreme weather events that have hit Ireland over the last decade.
While the Christmas Day flood of 2021, which left entire villages and thousands of acres of farmland submerged in water, is the most visceral example of how this coastal county has been impacted by changing weather patterns, there are other more subtle indicators of the toll frequent storms and rising tides have taken on Wexford.
In its Climate Action Plan, Wexford County Council (WCC) identifies coastal erosion as one of the growing threats posed by climate change. Alongside river flooding, coastal erosion is “the perceived highest risk to Co Wexford” and a “unique hazard type” according to the plan. It is regarded as an issue that requires constant monitoring.
Wexford’s coastline is about 270km long and 90pc of it consists of soft, earthy soil. As a result, the rate of erosion in the county has accelerated rapidly over the past decade, with some areas losing up to five metres of coastline annually.
Those living in the 14 houses closest to the coast have watched on as the sea has gradually made its way forward
Attributing this increase to “high wind events, storm surge occurrences and coastal flooding events”, WCC has begun monitoring the most vulnerable stretches of coastline using aerial mapping records, GPS surveys and drone footage.
However, there are certain areas that require more than monitoring. They need emergency works not only to protect the coastline, but to preserve the homes of those living in the area.
Seaview, near Kilmore, has been one of the most badly-hit parts of the county over the past decade, with up to 50 metres of coastline being lost to erosion in that time. As a result, those living in the 14 houses closest to the coast have watched on as the sea has gradually made its way forward, edging nearer to their homes with each passing storm and destroying one access road after another.
At the time of writing, works to install rock armour along 100m of the coastline at Seaview, which began in February 2025, continue. These works, funded by the Office of Public Works (OPW), will cost an estimated €660,000 to complete, bringing the total spent on coastal protection works at Seaview to almost €2m since 2021.
Andrew Grant at Seaview, Co Wexford. Photo: Mark Condren
Andrew Grant and other residents fought with the with the council and the OPW for years to have those works done.
“Sometimes a storm, especially if it was a bad one, could take at least five metres of land away,” he said.
“It was very stressful, there was a lot of pressure on me, with the family to protect them. The kids had a lot of stress on them as well, they didn’t think they were going to have a house to live in.
“It’s a big worry to have. As soon as a storm builds up and you can hear it outside and you can hear it outside the house your wondiner ghwat’s missing, what’s going to go away, what’s going to be the aftermath the day after.”
Erosion at Seaview, Co Wexford. Photo: Mark Condren
Meanwhile, just a stone’s throw away, farmers in the neighbouring area of Ballyhealy have been taking matters into their own hands, placing large boulders in front of their fields and hiring diggers to construct mud banks to keep the tides at bay.
While there is an acceptance that some parts of Wexford’s coastline will continue to disappear into the ocean, the county council has a number of large-scale schemes in progress to protect the county’s residential areas. Since 2017, €8m in funding has been allocated to the Rosslare Coastal Erosion and Flood Relief Scheme, with work expected to be complete in 2029.
Currently at the public consultation stage, the scheme will “manage and mitigate coastal erosion along Rosslare Strand” and build upon works that first began in the area in the 1950s.
According to Enda Brennan, executive environmental engineer at WCC and the man tasked with overseeing the progress of the schemes in Seaview and Rosslare, the OPW is actively assessing the Wexford coastline with each passing storm.
“There’s a coastal database being set up by the OPW,” he said. “It’s a pilot scheme involving a few county councils, including ourselves.
“It’s a mapping system, so, every time there’s a heavy storm, we go out and check the different risk zones we’ve identified and feed the information back into the OPW’s database in terms of how much has been lost.
“It provides [OPW] engineers with additional data. The OPW funds the various schemes, so it wants to see where the issues are.”
Areas like Seaview and Rosslare, where people and their homes are directly at risk, have had works funded by the OPW, but other applications have been rejected due to the agency’s cost-benefit analysis system.
As a result, some homeowners have opted to protect their property by themselves, hiring heavy machinery to transport boulders and rocks to place on the beachfront by their houses.
Potato farmer Chris Fortune has had to spend €50,000 of his own money on works to protect part of his farm, which is in Ballyhealy, just 200 metres from Seaview.
It doesn’t come cheap, but it’s a lot cheaper than what Wexford County Council is spending
“We asked for assistance from the government five or six years ago and had no luck. It’s not great now,” Mr Fortune said when we visited him in early 2025.
“It doesn’t come cheap, but it’s a lot cheaper than what Wexford County Council is spending.”
Mr Brennan said: “There’s a misconception that the council can do this work, but it’s the OPW which funds it and, in some cases, it won’t approve works for one-off housing.
“Some people will try and do it by themselves. Some have gone about it the correct way and used a proper consultant engineer, and other people have dumped stones and spoiled the area.”
Given the scale of the problem, and the length of Wexford’s coastline, Mr Brennan accepts that further works may be required to protect the most at-risk communities in the future. However, he believes retreating from the seas and relocating those in danger of losing their homes is not yet up for consideration.
“We haven’t come to that stage yet. That will be a government initiative. We’re trying to stop it before it gets to that stage.”