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Coastal Development in Ireland
The Páirc na Mara project in Connemara included plans for a “low carbon marine innovation park”
A Connemara community group is weighing up an appeal after planning permission for a state-led marine industry park in Cill Chiaráin was rejected. As The Times Ireland edition reports, Galway County Council has refused planning approval for the Páirc na…
An inshore fishing vessel at Dalkey Island on Dublin Bay
‘Stories from the sea - cultural value of Ireland’s coastal communities’ is the title of a free webinar hosted by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) next Wednesday 14 July. Ireland has a rich maritime history with coastal communities that have been…
Cars parked at coastal and other outdoor locations are at most risk of being broken into on weekend afternoons during summer months, the Garda Siochána says. Catalytic converters, cash, electronics, jewellery and tools were the items most targeted, and the…
Lesser weever
Beachgoers around Munster have been warned to watch where they step after numerous sightings of a venomous fish that lurks in the sand, as the Irish Examiner reports. Lesser weevers are small fish, only 15cm in length, but their stinging…
Roundstone Harbour in County Galway
Irish Water has been asked to explain why the Connemara harbour of Roundstone may end up with two wastewater treatment plants in a bid to meet EU water quality standards. As The Times Ireland edition reports, Bord Pleanála has queried…
Zostera marina seagrass
Invasive seaweed is a growing threat to Ireland’s vital seagrass meadows, according to Coastwatch Ireland. The Irish Times reports on concerns for the health of seagrass habitats around the coast affected by the presence of Sargassum muticum — a brown…
Codling Wind Park artist impression
Today’s launch of the National Marine Planning Framework also brings about the establishment of a new Maritime Area Regulatory Authority to oversee licensing and regulation for offshore renewable energy. But what exactly is MARA? Functions of the new agency — first…
An Taoiseach Michéal Martin TD launched the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF), Ireland’s first national framework for managing marine activities at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. The framework, which will apply to a maritime area of approximately 495,000km², outlines a vision for how we want to use, protect and enjoy our seas in the years up to 2040
Marine Leisure stakeholders have welcomed the launch of the National Marine Planning Framework (NMPF) at Dun Laoghaire Harbour today by An Taoiseach Michéal Martin TD and fellow Ministers. The plan is Ireland’s first national framework for managing marine activities. The framework, which…
A Cork County Council issued photograph posed to illustrate how the council is dealing with the matter of pleasure craft and water safety along the Cork Coast
There is a notable increase in leisure craft on the water all around the coast. Several incidents have been reported of users not adhering to harbour safety regulations, and Cork County Council's Senior Harbour Master has issued a warning that…
File image of the utility vessel Fastnet Sound
The Department of Transport has been advised that Codling Wind Park Limited intends to deploy metocean equipment off the coast of Wicklow as part of the consenting process for Codling Wind Park. This equipment will be deployed from the Fastnet…
New Cross Border Bridge Project: Planning permission is in place for a 280-metre cable-stayed bridge, anchored by two towers at either end, for car and cycle traffic. to link counties Louth and Down.
Funding of €3m has been announced by the Government to progress work on the cross-border Narrow Water Bridge, which will link the Mourne mountains area with the Cooley peninsula. The money from the Shared Island Fund will see the project…
Magheramore Beach in Co Wicklow
The main route onto one of Co Wicklow’s most popular beaches has sold at auction for more than three times the asking price. And as The Irish Times reports, Wicklow County Council was outbid for the 21-acre site above Magheramore…
Duncannon Beach on Co Wexford
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Pippa Hackett has congratulated a number of farmers in Duncannon, Co Wexford on improvements they have achieved in tackling water quality. Over two-and-a-half years of the department-funded…
File image of the Edda Sun
Vermilion Exploration & Production Ireland Limited is scheduled to carry out maintenance work at the Corrib subsea infrastructure from next Sunday 13 June. The maintenance work at the Corrib Gas Field will take place at Latitude 54° 20’ 20.413” N,…
Killiney Beach in south Co Dublin
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has closed two popular south Dublin beaches over elevated levels of bacteria in the water, as RTÉ News reports. The temporary notice advising against swimming at Killiney Beach and White Rock Beach was issued yesterday (Saturday…
Lahinch Beach in Co Clare
Irish beaches need full weekend lifeguard service at the very least this summer, a Co Clare surfing instructor says. Lahinch-based Ben Bennett told RTÉ’s Claire Byrne that lifeguard cover on Ireland’s coastal beaches lags behind that in the Frame and…

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.