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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 31 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Coastal Protection.

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for permitting me to raise this matter on the Adjournment, and I thank the Minister of State for coming into the House to reply.

Just over two weeks ago, Iarnród Éireann assembled a battalion of heavy machinery, JCBs and trucks on Killiney beach to carry out what it has called emergency works to protect the railway line. Since then it has shipped in heavy rock by sea, dug and dredged Killiney beach and turned one of this city's greatest natural amenities into a building site.

I have visited the beach on a number of occasions in the past two weeks, most recently on Sunday morning last, and I am appalled at the damage being caused to the beach and the foreshore. The people of Killiney and the surrounding areas in my constituency are bewildered and horrified that a State company with the apparent compliance of the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources should inflict such violence on this most beautiful amenity.

This work is being carried out without a foreshore licence from the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, without consultation or advance information to the public and their elected representatives and without even a courtesy phone call to the Killiney Beach Awareness Group through whose voluntary efforts this beach is maintained, cleaned and protected, and through whose energies Killiney beach achieved its blue flag award.

Those works currently under way by Iarnród Éireann at Killiney beach are illegal. They have no foreshore licence. This is not an emergency. If it were a genuine emergency, Iarnród Éireann would not be running trains on a line which would require remedial works of such urgency that the procedures of the Foreshore Act have to be set aside. This is not an emergency because according to maps in my possession, those works were planned as far back as October and, according to reports which I have heard, the planning of this work goes back at least six months. I would like to compliment my colleague, Councillor Jane Dillon Byrne, who was the first to raise this matter publicly.

Iarnród Éireann had ample time to submit an application for a foreshore licence or to submit in the normal way an application for a coastal protection scheme. In both scenarios, public consultation would and should have occurred and coastal protection expertise from the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources and from the Marine Institute could have been assembled to ensure that any necessary works would be carried out sensitively so as not to destroy a great natural amenity.

I ask the Minister of State at the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources a number of questions in relation to this development. Did his Department give approval to Iarnród Éireann to carry out this work? If it did, under what statute was such permission given because in my opinion there is no way around the Foreshore Act in a case like this? If permission was not given – I believe permission was not given – the most serious view must be taken of Iarnród Éireann's breach of the Foreshore Act. The Department should order an immediate halt of the work until a proper scheme is prepared and Iarnród Éireann should be prosecuted for carrying out beach works without a foreshore licence.

It is not acceptable that anybody, least of all a State owned company, can effectively take over and rearrange a public amenity such as Killiney beach. It is not acceptable that Iarnród Éireann can take a short cut through the well established procedures of the Foreshore and Coastal Protection Acts and it is not acceptable that the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources should stand aside and allow this to happen.

My constituents, many of whom are meeting tonight in the Killiney Court Hotel, want answers and they want action. Above all, we want our beach back and we look to the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, who is the custodian of our coastline, to protect Killiney beach which has been entrusted to his care and which is now in danger. I would like to hear from the Minister of State the action he intends to take to restore the damage that has been done and get back to the situation whereby Iarnród Éireann is complying with the normal procedures and the Foreshore Act in the normal way, and that whatever work is necessary to protect the railway line is carried out in a way that respects the amenity of Killiney beach, the interests and wishes of the local community and the public.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I want to make it clear at the outset that I am not impressed with what has happened on Killiney beach. I would also like to say that the reply the Deputy is now receiving had some changes made to it before they could be made on his copy so I will be saying a little more than is included in that reply, but I want to make it clear that there was no intention to pull a fast one.

I accept that.

The Department became aware of the fact that Iarnród Éireann was carrying out emergency works to protect the railway line at Killiney on Friday, 19 January and that in order to carry out such work it was depositing substantial quantities of rock on the beach at Killiney and that there was a substantial amount of earth-moving equipment on the beach. No application for a foreshore lease or licence had been received.

On Wednesday, 24 January Department officials, on my instruction, met consultants for Iarnród Éireann on the project and impressed upon them the need for a foreshore licence for such works. We believe the Department moved swiftly on the matter and engaged with Iarnród Éireann immediately in the interests of public safety and that works proceed with due care and attention to the public foreshore.

I am informed by Iarnród Éireann that there has been serious erosion to the cliff face at Killiney and that this erosion has endangered the safety of the railway line which runs along the cliff at this location. Emergency repairs carried out in the past are now subject to stress. Iarnród Éireann advises me that the position is such that if immediate works are not carried out, there would be a risk of a collapse of the railway line and should a train be passing at the time of such collapse, there would be inevitable loss of human life. I recall an incident which happened in Wexford when, unfortunately, a bridge was removed unintentionally, a train came down the tracks and five people lost their lives. However, I take into consideration the remarks of the Deputy that if the track is in such danger, why are the trains still running? The options open are the closure of the railway line pending the normal procedures and reinstatement of the line, the repair of the embankment on a temporary basis pending a long-term solution or the compulsory acquisition of property and the moving back of the rail line.

The closure for a prolonged period of such a vital infrastructure as this line which, in addition to serving DART commuters, serves as a vital link with Rosslare, in my own constituency, IFI Industries in Arklow etc., cannot readily be contemplated. The compulsory acquisition of a property and the moving back of the railway line away from the coast is a slow process and the only realistic option is to carry out temporary works to make the railway safe. That prompts the question: why has this work not been done?

Iarnród Éireann advises me that the current temporary works involved the placing of rock armour revetments at the base of the sea wall over a distance of about 300 metres. The rock armour will stretch about eight metres out towards the sea. The rock is transported by barge to the beach at high tide and recovered and moved up the beach at low tide. Cleaning and reinstatement of the beach will commence when this work is complete. Stone mattresses will be placed at the base of the embankment slope to protect the soil from over-topping of waves. These will be hand filled with stones and lifted into place by excavator. Iarnród Éireann has advised me that it is anticipated these emergency works will be completed by the second week of April. It has also advised me that development of a permanent solution is under way and that it will discuss the permanent solution with officials of my Department as work on its development progresses. I have not done so yet, but I will suggest to it that the local community should be con sulted. The rock revetments used in the temporary solution will be removed when the permanent solution is in place. Iarnród Éireann has also advised that, prior to commencement of the permanent works, it will engage in consultation with the county council and the public generally.

There is a number of legal issues arising from this matter which my Department is addressing in conjunction with the Chief State Solicitor's office and the solicitor for Iarnród Éireann. Consequently, I cannot directly answer the Deputy's question, much as I would like to. My Department is being represented at senior level at the public meeting to which the Deputy referred. I take this opportunity to impress upon Iarnród Éireann that any moves it intends to make should only be made in consultation with me and my Department.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 1 February 2001.

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