Landslide sparks call for urgent works

Date Published: 28-Dec-2012

BY CIARAN TIERNEY

A member of Galway City Council has called for urgent coastal protection works to be undertaken in the vicinity of Silver Strand Beach after up to 50 tonnes of the adjoining Knocknagoneen Hill collapsed and fell onto the shore over the Christmas holidays.

Cllr Donal Lyons (Independent) said that stark warnings from consultants, that the whole area could be “washed away” within 15 to 20 years, would ring true unless urgent remedial works are undertaken in the area.

He made representations to Director of Services Kevin Swift on Monday, after being informed that between 40 and 50 tonnes had collapsed onto the shore to the side of the picturesque beach over the weekend.

“This is a very serious development for the ongoing protection of Silver Strand and its environs. I know that ongoing erosion is taking place and that Galway City Council has prepared a plan to combat the erosion and put works in place which should protect the hill and its environs,” said Cllr Lyons.

Consultants appointed by the City Council had already predicted that the entire area could be washed away within two decades prior to the most recent landslide, leading Cllr Lyons to call for urgent protection works to buttress the hill and beach from Atlantic waves.

The area is part of a long-term €9 million plan to provide a coastal pedestrian walkway from Silver Strand to Renmore, but Cllr Lyons said the landslide at the weekend underlined how precarious the project was unless urgent buttressing works are carried out.

“There is the ongoing need to expedite the works required to give the area the protection its needs from the Atlantic waves. Also, there is an urgent need to have more additional warning signs on the hill to warn would be walkers of the danger of further collapses along the cliff edge,” he told the Galway City Tribune.

Cllr Lyons has asked the Mayor of Galway, Terry O’Flaherty, for permission to raise the issue at the next meeting of Galway City Council to ensure that buttressing works can be brought forward at the site.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.