Rosses Point fears
THE extent of coastal erosion has been emphasized by a number of sources worldwide, but real tangible evidence of the process is particularly evident at Rosses Point.
Recent storms have cut away as much as eight metres of dunes at the beach, and fears have now emerged for the health and safety of people who visit there.
Locals are said to be “horrified” at the sheer scale and pace of the erosion and while work has been carried out to help halt its momentum in recent years, it appears more will need to be done in order to prevent any further damage.
There are also significant concerns for the Co Sligo Golf Club, with the sea edging closer and closer in recent times. The 16 th green is now just eight paces from the sea at high tide.
David O’Donovan is General Manager of Co Sligo Golf Club, and while he acknowledges the continued erosion provides significant difficulties going forward for the golf course itself, arguably of greater concern is the health and safety of those who use the beach.
“Between the last two storms, the beach has lost a huge amount of dunes. There has been a huge sand shift across the whole strand on the second beach in Rosses Point,” David told the Sligo Champion as he assessed the latest damage.
“It has come to a stage now, it’s a health and safety issue. Access to the beach has become so dangerous and so unsecure that people who come down to the beach, just for a walk, you’d be worried about them because when the tide comes in. I’ve seen it in September when people were getting trapped on the beach, once they got on, they couldn’t get off because the tide came in and they didn’t know where to go.
“At the time, they were using an access up onto the golf course and making their way over but that has all been washed away and the cliffs or the dunes have now become so high that there’s actually no way to get up onto the golf course where it is.”
Given the popularity of the beach with local residents and indeed those from further afield, the issue of safe access is now a real problem. The area which David references for people to walk on between the golf course and the beach is no more, meaning that when the tide is on the way in, those at the northern end of the strand may end up getting cut off from the walkway off the beach at the southern end.
Such is the extent of erosion that a fence to the right of the par-three 16 th on the golf course has been washed into the sea on two separate occasions since Christmas. The beach and the 16 th green are now just yards from one another – raising fears about the continued existence of the hole itself.
David says: “On our side, we’re now at a stage where we’re now about eight paces from the 16 th green and there’s a section between the 16 th and 17 th where it has lost somewhere in the region of 8 metres.
“There’s been total erosion from the north side and the south side of the beach, and we were just unlucky with the scale of storms over the last two weeks, there was relentless wind brought together with spring high tides and a westerly wind which was basically just washing the dunes straight off. It has become dangerous, become unsightly and the worry I would have is the welfare of people down walking the beach.”
“I employ 19 people here in the golf club, if we don’t have a golf course, do we have jobs for the people? Apart from just the golf course, if I have 7500 or 8000 visitors coming here every year, they need hotels to stay in, they need restaurants to eat in, they need bars, they need shops to go to, everybody benefits from the golfers we bring in here. We won’t have those if we don’t have a golf course.
“We’re not asking people to protect a golf course – we’re asking them to protect the beach, its a blue flag beach, I don’t know if it’ ll retain its status if it is as badly damaged as it is and if the access is as dangerous as it is because it’s a health and safety issue and when I speak to the county council the key part for us is it’s a health and safety issue for people walking the beach.”