Ireland must move from monitoring coastal erosion physically to establishing “urgent legal and financial mechanisms required to relocate homes and infrastructure”, new research states.
The research says that there should be mandatory natural hazard disclosure in property transactions, and climate adaptation planning for offshore renewable energy- related infrastructure.
A working paper published today (Wednesday, June 10) by the Climate Change Advisory Council identifies potential “policy levers, zoning tools, and funding structures” needed to carry out the planned relocation of people and critical assets away from “at-risk zones” on coastlines.
It identifies these critical assets as residential and commercial properties, roads, bridges, rail lines, ports and harbours, telecommunication networks and utility plants.
The paper entitled Managing Coastal Risks in Ireland: Towards strategies that integrate planned coastal relocations ,is said to provide the first comprehensive roadmap for a national Coastal Change Adaptation Framework.
The working paper says that the scale of the threat from coastal erosion is “immense”.
It notes a survey of eight local authorities which identified 2,279 properties and 570km of roads at risk.
These numbers are projected to jump to 4,446 properties by 2050, a figure that will rise substantially once all local authorities covering 19 coastal counties report their data.
The paper argues that while erosion is an inevitable natural process, the current lack of a binding framework for retreat has left the State “in a cycle of ad hoc reactive engineering and unmanaged loss”.
To protect current and future generations, the Government must now prioritise the creation of a masterplan that operationalises how - and not just why - coastal communities will move to safety, it says.
The report’s lead author, Dr Eugene Farrell, Associate Professor at University of Galway, said that the core issue is “accountability and action”.
“Governments and communities cannot continue to frame today’s coastal erosion crisis as an unforeseeable outcome. The science has been clear for decades, and the warnings were widely available,”he says.
“What is required now is decisive remedial and adaptive action. Implementing 'planned relocation' from eroding coastlines is not optional - it is an essential responsibility of present governance," he says.
The findings address targets in the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on National Coastal Change Management Strategy 2023; policy objectives in the 2025 National Planning Framework; and the recommendations The Just Transition Commission of Ireland 2025 report.
The working paper outlines a series of actions for Government to respond to the increasing risks associated with coastal erosion that will require houses, roads and other infrastructure to be moved.
It calls for:
- New legislation addressing coastal change and planned relocation
- Consistent coastal planning and zoning guidance at a national level
- Comprehensive, high-resolution coastal risk data
- A national framework for funding and compensation for relocation
- Clear governance structures and well-defined roles for all agencies
- Substantial investment in technical capacity within local authorities to manage relocation
- Robust community engagement to support meaningful dialogue around relocation
The working paper also says that coastal management should “prioritise a proactive, managed retreat strategy, with erosion recognised as a natural process essential for sustaining coastal environments like beaches and dunes”.
It says there should be mandatory natural hazard disclosure in property transactions, similar to a scheme in California and being progressed in England.
This is where a prospective buyer would be formally notified if a home falls within a projected erosion or flood risk zone.
It says that coastal infrastructure required to service offshore renewable energy including ports and transmission networks must be designed with climate adaptation and long-term coastal change in mind.
It says that selective protection should be maintained for high-value urban areas, however, rural homeowners cannot simply be left to "be washed away",it says.
It says that relocation should be viewed through a human rights lens and fundamentally as a public health and social justice priority.
“Relocation with community participation and fair compensation, can improve long-term wellbeing; without it, the risk .. deepens of social inequalities" and causes "mental health trauma,”it says.
Like aid for victims of river flooding, humanitarian aid is required for coastal erosion, it says.
“ However, relying on reactive emergency funding is unpredictable whereas a long-term strategy for coastal relocations enables the Government of Ireland to plan proactively and allocate public funds money more efficiently as climate impacts worsen.,”it says.
The working paper, compiled by Dr Eugene Farrell with technical support from MKO planning and environmental consultants, was commissioned by the Climate Change Advisory Council.
Its authors say it “integrates a desktop review of international case studies and interviews with practitioners and policymakers”.
