\u201cIn the last 12 months, we’ve lost three metres in places from our soft, sandy, golden beach that was Rosslare Beach,\u201d she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sand has been washed away, the dunes have been eroded further and now we’re in a situation where businesses such as Kelly’s Hotel are under serious threat for their mere existence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we really need emergency repair works forthwith to protect the position.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/3DG6591.jpg\")
Rosslare Strand. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n
Wexford County Council and the Office of Public Works have signed off on a preliminary Rosslare Coastal Erosion and Flood Relief Scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An Environmental Impact Assessment Report has been scheduled for the autumn and the council hopes work can begin in late 2028 – if planning permission is granted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat’s required here in Rosslare is the old groynes that are there to be repaired essentially,\u201d Cllr McDonald continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, that they can then once again gather the sand that can maybe naturally protect the beach itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome low-lying rock armour along the piece that’s most vulnerable to be covered with sand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThen maybe the locals hopefully will take part in planting soft measures such as marm grass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, there’s a lot of things that we can do to protect it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2WYA7WP.jpg\")
Rosslare Strand. Picture by: Alamy.com.<\/p>\n
If work commences in 2028, the OPW estimate the work could be completed by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Cllr McDonald warned that the beach \u201ccan’t wait until this happens in 2030\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem in Ireland is we don’t have any coordinated approach,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don’t have investment forthcoming at all times and there’s no adaptation or resilience plan at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Rosslare Strand is a national treasure, well, Kelly’s Hotel is the jewel in the crown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 240 people employed there; there’s another 100 in various different places, including golf courses and businesses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has an economic effect if it’s not saved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cllr McDonald added that the lack of urgency is especially concerning, given how coastal erosion is likely to intensify in the years and decades ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re not going to be able to save everywhere along our whole coast,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut like 30% of Ireland’s coastline is vulnerable, there’s no plan in place on how to protect it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd of that 30%, 99% of the Wexford coastline, Barhook Head is included in that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Main image: Rosslare Strand. Picture by: Alamy.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Locals in Wexford have warned that the much of Rosslare Strand is at risk of from coastal erosion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-369718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}