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Coastal Development in Ireland
Storm Warning — Waves crash over a seafront promenade during severe coastal conditions, highlighting the growing challenges posed by erosion, flooding and rising sea levels around Ireland's coast.
Ireland must move from monitoring coastal erosion physically to establishing “urgent legal and financial mechanisms required to relocate homes and infrastructure”, new research states. The research says that there should be mandatory natural hazard disclosure in property transactions, and climate…
File aerial image of Howth Harbour in Co Dublin
The Environmental Projection Agency has agreed to issue a licence to the Department of the Marine for the long-awaited Howth Harbour dredging project. That’s according to Howth Yacht Club Commodore Kevin Monks, who in his latest Commodore’s Update to club…
“Western
Sinn Féin Galway West by-election candidate Mark Lohan has said that communities across Connemara, the islands and throughout Galway are being “slowly hollowed out” by Government neglect. He has said rising living costs and the failure to invest in the…
Orange brisingids on coral are among the organisms comprising the benthic communities that underpin the health of Ireland’s coastal ecosystems
Over 650,000 marine wildlife records spanning 12 years are now freely accessible online — marking what the Marine Institute calls “a landmark moment” for open science and open environmental data in Ireland. To mark Biodiversity Week 2026, which continues to…
Vermilion Energy logo
Vermilion Exploration & Production Ireland Limited is engaged in a campaign of inspection of the Corrib gas nearshore pipeline and umbilical off Co Mayo. The works were due to commence on Monday 18 May and last for around 10 days,…
“Gardaí
The Garda Síochána has initiated a “refresh” of its Coastal Watch in the southern region. The event was marked on Wednesday (May 13th) in Castletownbere Co Cork, by Assistant Commissioner for the Southern Region, Eileen Foster. Coastal Watch’s purpose is…
Brush Battle: Bunzl and Coastwatch volunteers brush algae from the lower promenade in Dun Laoghaire during non-toxic cleaning trials on March 22, 2026. Photo: Elise Merckel
Coastwatch has urged local authorities to ensure that hazardous chemicals are not being used to clean slipways and sea steps. A report published by the NGO today says that its volunteers were able to clean sample areas in a national…
File image of the pusher tug Otterbank
Donegal County Council is carrying out plough dredging at Buncrana Harbour in Lough Swilly between until next Friday 15 May, subject to operational and weather constraints. Dredging operations are along the berthing face of Buncrana Pier, for a distance of…
A rendering of Damen’s in-house designed trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) to be built for UK Dredging, which is a subsidiary of ABP, the UK’s largest port operator.
A Dutch shipyard has signed a contract with UK Dredging (UKD), a subsidiary of Associated British Ports (ABP). Damen Shipyards Group has signed the contract with the UK’s largest port operator to build a trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD). The agreement…
“Repair
A large trailing suction hopper dredger has berthed at Dun Laoghaire’s Carlisle Pier this week. The vessel, Freeway, is understood to be alongside for a short lay-up rather than operational work in the harbour. Harbour sources indicated the ship will…
Bloom Warning – Algal bloom spreads across Lough Neagh as new research links dredging to widespread ecosystem disturbance and declining water quality
New research led by Queen’s University Belfast suggests that Lough Neagh, Britain and Ireland’s largest freshwater lake, is under threat from commercial sand dredging. Sand dredging is the underwater excavation and removal of sand from seabeds, rivers, or lakes using…
“Wave
Dublin’s Sandymount, Clontarf, Rush and Portrane, Galway’s Salthill and Meath’s Bettystown and Laytown are among vulnerable coastal hotspots identified in a study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The DETECT project at University College Cork (UCC) has examined the…
Depth Divide: The hopper dredger Mahury on Dublin Bay operating in a major Irish port where regular maintenance maintains navigable depth, contrasting with smaller coastal harbours where silting is reported but dredging activity is less evident
Ireland’s dredging activity over the past decade has been concentrated in a small number of major ports, according to an Afloat analysis of Environmental Protection Agency dumping-at-sea licence records, available via the EPA Dumping at Sea Permit Register. That concern…
“Anniversary
Dungarvan Sailing Club owes a lot to the hurling counterparts of the county team. One of them brought from Stateside the plans for the first dinghy built for club sailing and which was its foundation for the growth that has…
Policy Warning: Fine Gael senator Seán Kyne has called for protection of traditional seaweed harvesting rights, saying coastal communities must not be sidelined as licensing proposals for Connemara bays are considered.
Fine Gael senator Seán Kyne has called for protection of traditional rights to seaweed harvesting. As Afloat has reported, there is controversy over a stipulation under the Marine Planning Act that all harvesters must register with the Maritime Area Regulatory…
Vico Baths: Works are underway to repair recent storm damage at one of Ireland’s most popular swimming spots, along Dalkey’s rugged coastline, south of Dublin Bay. Above is the arrival onto Killiney Bay of workboat tender Ros Aine 1 this morning with construction equipment transferred ashore to the site, and on the right is the ‘Eire’ sign dating to WW2.
Due to storm damage at one of the country’s most popular coastal swimming spots, the Vico Baths, Dalkey, in south Dublin, with its sweeping view of Killiney Bay, is temporarily closed for essential repairs, writes Jehan Ashmore. For the next…

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.