Life’s a beach
As Wexford basked in a blaze of sunshine over the bank holiday weekend, attracting more people to the beach, Wexford County Council had to set up road blocks to prevent day-trippers making their way to the popular seaside resort of Curracloe.
The local authority put initial measures in place on Friday morning in anticipation of increased numbers of weekend beach-goers, including barriers and lines of traffic cones to prevent unauthorised parking, but that didn’t stop people from parking further back along the road.
Following consultation with the gardaí, a decision was then taken to extend the cordon and establish manned road blocks to prevent access.
Despite the Covid-19 five kilometre travel rule, a large volume of people attempted to get to the beach during weekend, tempted by high temperatures and glorious sunshine.
‘There was a constant flow of cars. We didn’t have counters but hundreds of cars were being turned back. Generally, people were very understanding’, said senior environment engineer Gerry Forde.
‘We tried the initial measures on Friday and they worked for a short while but people started parking along the country roads and following consultation with an Garda Síochána, we extended the cordons. The gardaí supported our efforts’, he said.
Only people living locally and those within a five kilometre radius were entitled to get through.
The engineer said the June bank holiday weekend is the official start of the summer season and normally draws large crowds of people to the beach if the weather is fine.
Photographs taken on Sunday showed Curracloe and Rosslare virtually empty of sunbathers, an unusual sight for this time of year, although more people were visible at Rosslare on Monday when it was less windy.
Mr. Forde said ensuring compliance with the 5km restriction was the main reason for the Council cordons but the absence of lifeguards and the continuing closure of public toilets were also factors.
The recruitment and training of lifeguards has been delayed by a fortnight this year due to Covid-19 and the council is awaiting government notification on when public toilets can be reopened.
Mr Forde said the situation is being reviewed and, all going well, the plan will be for a gradual reopening of beach access from June 8 onwards.
The anti-crowd measures were implemented following complaints from local residents about breaches of the coronavirus travel restrictons and unauthorised parking by visitors since the fine weather began.
While the beaches are open to those within a 5km radius, the car parks are closed. ‘The initial plan had to go. We had a lot of complaints from local residents about people arriving from outside the 5km radius and parking all over the place’, said Mr Forde. ‘We regret having to do it but it had to be done, to ensure compliance with the national guidelines. We feel we had to do it.’
He emphasised that local beaches are still open to people living within a 5km vicinity. There were no road closures in Rosslare as the beach is accessed from the village which is home to 2,000 residents but the car park is blocked off and there were very few people on the beach there on Sunday afternoon. Car parks in Kilmore Quay are also closed.
The engineer said as the fine weather continued, the situation in Curracloe was being reviewed, with the possibility of maintaining road closures around the area into mid-week.
Ahead of the bank holiday weekend, a south east steering group comprising Wexford County Council, Wexford gardai
and the HSE, had urged people not to visit seaside amenities and tourist attractions.
Commenting on breaches in coastal areas in Wexford earlier in the week, Council Communications Director David Minogue said: ‘It’s understandable but not forgiveable. There is no bank holiday for Covid-19’.
He said measures were put in place as the weather improved, to ‘curb the enthusiasm of the public’.
‘Only people who live five kilometres from these amenities are entitled to go there. The 5km restriction will continue until the Government says otherwise. It’s the law of the land at the moment and the gardai expect people to continue abiding by it’, he said.
The council press officer said the local authority received reports from the public about increased traffic in seaside areas and passed these complaints onto the gardaí.
‘Wexford County Council will assist the gardaí in enforcing the restrictions that are there’, he said.
‘There is evidence of further breaches since the weather improved and we are doing our best to combat that’, said Mr. Minogue.
Car parks in seaside areas will be closed off until travel restrictions are eased. ‘The current rules are to be reviewed on June 8 and it’s then a matter for the Government to decide. We would urge the public to continue as they have been doing and adhere to the regulations until then’, he said.
A new traffic management also system came into effect at Curracloe last weekend, with the road closed from the Raven to White Gap (Winning Post) to ease congestion and assist pedestrians and cyclists in social distancing, with one-way traffic from White Gap to Ballineskar.