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Coastal Development in Ireland
Ireland’s water environment is in crisis. Water quality is declining and water pollution is rising at an unprecedented rate says the Environmental Network SWAN
The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) has hit out at the Government’s draft plan for managing Ireland’s inland and coastal waters. The network of 25 environmental organisations says the River Basin Management Plan is “completely lacking in the strong ambition, measures…
Isle of Man: An "isolated" amount of the fuel was found by Douglas breakwater on Sunday
Residents of the Isle of Man's capital reported a strong smell of fuel which was likely caused by a recent oil spill, harbour authorities have said. As BBC News reported, checks were made across the island's east coast after oil…
New patrol boats (cutters) for the Revenue Commissioners 'maritime' unit. Above an existing patrol cutter, RCC Faire in Dingle Harbour, Co. Kerry
Two new patrol boats are set to be purchased by the Revenue Commissioners. The new vessels will be used, in part, to expand the service’s ability to tackle drug smuggling and other seaborne criminal activities. The patrol vessels, which sources believe…
Paddy Conaghan
A Donegal octogenarian has completed his marathon effort to swim at as many spots around the Irish coast as possible — raising more than €100,000 for charity in the process. As the Sunday World reports, Paddy Conaghan skipped Christmas and…
Barge Cliodna in Bangor Harbour
County Wexford based company Marine Specialists Ltd completed mobilising their new 26-metre barge Cliodna in Bangor Harbour on Belfast Lough on Monday, February 7th. Over the coming weeks, it will be inspected by the Maritime Coastguard Agency and prepared for…
Ballybunion Buoy being unhooked from crane in Dun Laoghaire, ready to be towed to Irish Lights ship ILV Granuaile
Met Éireann and Irish Lights are pleased to announce a joint collaboration that will enhance our understanding of Irish Coastal Waters, with the aim of improving safety for coastal inhabitants and mariners. Safety of the mariner and the public has…
Senator Barry Ward has expressed concern that heritage harbours like Dun Laoghaire (above) on Dublin Bay could be overlooked in the new €35m Brexit fund for harbours and piers.  The senator says there is a need to specifically provide heritage funding for smaller 'less commercial' harbours as well. See vid below
A Fine Gael Senator has raised the importance of funding for heritage harbours as part of the plan to support and rejuvenate coastal communities and infrastructure. Speaking in the Seanad, Dún Laoghaire-based Senator Barry Ward welcomed the Government’s announcement of…
A screenshot from an interactive website that maps Ireland’s historic shipwrecks
Shipwrecks with no known owner will become State property under new legislation which Minister of State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan is proposing. The legislation also proposes that commercial salvage law does not apply to historic wrecks. The Monuments and Archaeological…
People before Profit call for a Maritime Museum in Waterford City.
The political party, People Before Profit have called for the establishment of a Maritime Museum in Waterford. PBP said 'most' port cities in Ireland and elsewhere have long-established maritime museums, as do many seaside towns. In a statement they said:…
Reader Travel Awards 2022: The Burren Ecotourism Network wins our judges’ ‘Green Light’ award for sustainability. Above: Oonagh O'Dwyer of Wild Kitchen, a member of the Burren Ecotourism Network, foraging for sea veg in Lahinch.
The Burren Ecotourism Network has been leading the way for more than a decade when it comes to sustainability, pioneering ecotourism principles in Ireland. Independent.ie's Green Light award set out to celebrate a business, destination or initiative for its contribution…
Fethard on Sea harbour is an example of publically owned marine infrastructure in County Wexford that could qualify for improvements from a new fund specifically to address the economic consequences of Brexit arising from the implications to the Irish fishing industry. Local Authority Marine Infrastructure Scheme 2022-2023 is designed to support economic sectors, businesses and local communities and to support job creation and protection by distributing BAR funds to enhance, upgrade, modernise and develop Ireland’s publicly owned coastal and marine infrastructure to facilitate diversification of economic opportunities.  The main condition for reimbursing public authorities is that the costs incurred must be directly linked to countering the adverse effects of the UK's withdrawal.  Funding from the Reserve must be availed of before the end of 2023. Local authorities will need to meet these and other conditions to avail of the funding.
Marine Minister Charlie McConalogue T.D., has announced a new €35m scheme to rejuvenate local authority public piers and harbours throughout coastal communities. The record funded scheme is proposed for funding under the EU Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) and was one of…
Lifeguards are needed for beaches at Benone, Downhill, Castlerock, Portstewart, Portrush West, Portrush East, Whiterocks and Ballycastle on the Causeway Coast and at Tyrella, Murlough and Cranfield in county Down.
The RNLI has launched its search for budding new lifeguards to start their career on some of Northern Ireland’s most popular beaches, as applications open for 2022. Recruitment for this season’s team of RNLI beach lifesavers on the Causeway Coast…
Dara McGee's - ' Coconuts with and without husks, along with Sea Heart (Entada gigas) Fanore, Co Clare, 20.07.2019
Marine biologist Declan Quigley has said it is “conceivable” that some of the 67 coconuts recorded in Irish waters over the past half-century could have drifted from tropical areas across the Atlantic. In a paper published on the recent discovery…
Silting at Heysham has led to dredging to resolve the issue at the Lancashire port, England. Above AFLOAT adds on the right is the IOMSPCo's ropax Ben-my-Chree berthed at the linkspan that serves ferry traffic of the operator's main route linking Douglas.
The issues surrounding silting in the Irish Sea ferry port of Heysham appear to have been resolved. Last week, the Minister for Infrastructure, Tim Crookall MHK , spoke with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company regarding the problems that…
A centuries-old tradition took place on New Year’s Day at the 800-year-old Hook Lighthouse as the Dunbrody Archers took part in a traditional “arrow ceremony”, the ancient tradition which dates back to 1687.
On the coastal narrow road to Hook Lighthouse in Co. Wexford was lined with sea foam as cars arrived on New Year’s Day from 7.30 a.m. for a ceremony that dates back to 1687. An outcrop of rock behind the…
“Iontas na bhFarraigí Ceilteachta” is a three-part series presented by Eoin Warner which will be broadcast on TG4 from January 12th.
The courtship rituals of bottle-nosed dolphins, basking sharks congregating off the Irish coast and the sex-shifting cuckoo wrasse are documented in a new wildlife series on the Celtic coasts. “Iontas na bhFarraigí Ceilteachta” is a three-part series presented by Eoin…

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.