Residents in Rosslare, Co Wexford, have warned that their properties risk being lost to the sea due to the worsening impacts of coastal erosion.
Storms of increasing frequency and severity have had devasting effects on the soft Wexford coastline found at the likes of Rosslare Strand and Ballyhealy Beach.
Home and business owners there have said extreme weather events such as Storm Claudia in November 2025, Storm Bram last December, and more recently Storm Chandra have exacerbated the loss of beach and dune material to the sea.
Some residents said they now fear that their properties will not survive another winter.
Bill Kelly is the owner of Kelly's Resort Hotel that was first established along Rosslare Strand in 1895.
He said each year the beach, which provides the backdrop to his family’s business, grows smaller and recedes into the sea.
"It is very worrying.
"We employ over 260 people here at Kelly’s Resort Hotel.
"Just looking at the storms coming in at the beginning of February and seeing the banks being eroded within three to four metres of the hotel building is such a big concern for us," he said.
Mr Kelly said while they are calling for urgent coastal protection works to be carried out at Rosslare beach, the introduction of a longer-term solution needs to be expedited.
Last week, he said they got a call from Minister of State Kevin 'Boxer’ Moran and Minister James Browne "to say that there are interim funds in place to help protect Rosslare beach prior to the capital project commencing".
"But the capital project is what is vital for us going forward," he said.
"We need that big investment of that €7-12 million on doing the beach replenishment and the rock groyne extensions to Rosslare beach," he added.
Mr Kelly said it is "eessential if we are going to keep Rosslare as it is going forward into the future".
Further along the strand, Michael and Rosemary O’Connell, who have lived in Rosslare for almost 40 years, said the threat coastal erosion poses to their property has never been worse.
Ms O'Connell said: "We feel very vulnerable now to the sea and the damage is right up to our back gate.
"It has torn out a large segment of the beach and we just feel something needs to be done about it.
"It is urgent.
"We don’t know at what point the damage could be catastrophic for a lot of people along here."
Mr O'Connell said: "This is the worst that we have seen, the damage from the two most recent storms.
"A lot of erosion and a lot of stones have been brought up the beach."
He added that "all you see when you come out of the car park are stones and rocks, and then the sand has been eroded".
"Something needs to be done very soon," he said.
Local councillor Lisa McDonald, who represents the Rosslare Municipal District, has echoed those concerns.
She said: "I have been raising this for years now. I have been telling people, we are now a minute past midnight, the damage is being done, and it is being seen to be done.
"This year, for the first year, we have seen metres being taken off the sand dunes in a matter of weeks in the month of February.
"We really saw how not acting has impacted, and if we don’t act, the impact is going to be devastating."
The Fianna Fáil councillor said the recent funding to implement interim protection measures is to be welcomed, but things are not happening quickly enough.
She said: "It was 2018 when the Government announced that they will give us some money for the main scheme but that is still going through [planning].
"Here on the main beach, we need beach nourishment. We need new sand.
"The 1990s is the last time the rock groynes were looked at and there has been no maintenance since then.
"I would say there is a lot of concern that we won't survive another storm here, particularly a northeasterly storm."
Ms McDonald added that there is "a lot of concern about the damage that it will do and the impact that it will have on tourism in Rosslare Strand".
"And also, the impact that it has on the local people as they feel very, very connected to their beach and to the amenities, such as Kelly’s and such as the main village," she said.
"They might not survive if the ferocity and the relentlessness of the storms that we have seen continue," she added.
The councillor said: "We understand now, having had a few years of these 'one-off weather events' that these 'one-off weather events' are now going to become the norm."
Chief Executive of Wexford County Council Eddie Taaffe said the existing coastal defences along Rosslare Strand have been damaged and need to be repaired urgently.
Mr Taaffe confirmed that the council has agreed emergency funding of €600,000 from the Office of Public Works (OPW) and will be undertaking these repair works in September of this year before next winter’s storms.
"We will be bringing in additional rock armour as an interim measure that will get us through the next few years, pending the delivery of the permanent scheme, which we are working on as well, and we hope to get into the planning process on that [permanent scheme] later this year," he said.
Mr Taaffe also outlined the details of what the council hopes will permanently address the problem.
He said: "We have identified more a preferred solution for the permanent scheme.
"Now that scheme is in the order of €15-20 million. So, it is a significant scheme, but it is warranted here given the importance of the beach and the importance of protecting Rosslare Strand from climate change and coastal erosion.
"It involves additional rock groynes, which are like rock piers that go out into the sea, and then we will build up the beach through beach nourishment behind that.
"It is about building up the beach and then limited amounts of rock armour at the toe of the dunes to protect the dunes from further erosion."
Mr Taafe said the "real solution here is those rock groynes, the beach nourishment, the building up of the beach to prevent waves in the first place from getting at the dune structure".
The introduction of this permanent solution is being managed through a project steering group, which comprises of representatives from both Wexford County Council and the OPW.
A spokesperson for the OPW said the Rosslare Coastal Erosion and Flood Relief Scheme is likely to include rock revetments, groynes, an extensive beach nourishment programme and work on embankments on the Burrow Road.
The scheme comprises of two elements of work - works to address flooding on the west side of the scheme (the Burrow Road) and works to address coastal erosion on the east side of the scheme.
In a statement, the spokesperson for the OPW said: "In 2025, draft options reports were prepared by the scheme’s consultant for both the west and east side.
"Following discussions with the National Parks and Wildlife Service on the potential options, further revisions are currently being made to the options reports.
"It is currently envisaged that the options reports will be finalised in Q2 2026.
"While the preferred design option will inform a revised project budget, the scheme currently has an approved project budget of some €7.6 million.
"Funding for the scheme is being made available under the National Development Plan.
"The economic viability of the preferred option will be assessed through a benefit to cost ratio, in line with established practice for engineering projects of this nature."
