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Coastal Development in Ireland
Courtmacsherry Harbour Boat Club is welcoming visitors this summer until August as harbour dredging has been deferred
Long-awaited dredging in Courtmacsherry Harbour is being deferred.  As Afloat reported earlier this month, the dredging at the popular West Cork boating harbour had restrictions put in place for visiting boats in June for a planned three to four weeks…
The popular West Cork boating harbour of Courtmacsherry where dredging is underway
Long-awaited dredging at the popular West Cork boating harbour of Courtmacsherry is underway but restrictions are now in place for visiting boats for three to four weeks as the harbour's pontoon is unavailable and the slipway blocked off. Local fishermen are…
Beach cleaning with the Clean Coasts initiative
An Taisce’s Clean Coasts and National Spring Clean initiatives have joined up to encourage people all over Ireland to take part in a nationwide beach clean to mark World Oceans Day on Wednesday 8 June. And they’re offering coastal communities,…
Waters and Communities Special Award banner
The Waters and Communities Special Award is now open for 2022, with entries being accepted until Friday 10 June. A regular feature in the SuperValu TidyTowns competition since 2017, the award will see prizes given to communities for projects and initiatives…
Kinsale Yacht club Marina in West Cork with a moored visiting superyacht at the facility
One of the country’s leading marinas will become unusable for keelboats unless urgent action is taken to address increasing silting in the harbour area writes David Forsythe in West Cork Kinsale-based Fine Gael councillor Kevin Murphy told the recent meeting of…
The Explorers team look forward to joining teachers on the seashore for this year’s CPD training
Teacher training courses this summer are now available to book as part of the Marine Institute’s Explorers Education Programme. The five-day continuing professional development (CPD) courses will take place from 4-8 July in Galway, Dublin, Waterford, Kerry and West Cork.…
The Marine Institute's Explorers team around the country are planning a Kraken Family Day on the beach for European Maritime Day on the 21st May
The Marine Institute's Explorers Education Programme is delighted to announce that they will be hosting five 'Kraken beach events' for families on seashores around the country, celebrating as part of European Maritime Day, on Saturday 21st May at 12pm. The…
Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien, Paul Fallon, Irish Water and Jim Cullen, Galway County Council pictured during the minister’s visit to the  wastewater project under construction at An Spidéal, Co Galway.
Water quality in Galway Bay may be improved when a new wastewater treatment plant is completed in An Spidéal next year, Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien has predicted. The project will eliminate the discharge of more than…
Dublin Bay in all its eccentric high tide glory. Yet with the greater city area actually sinking at about 3 millimetres a year relative to much of the rest of Ireland, we could be in for some interesting times on the tidal front
If you’re a coastal Dub doing a Marie Kondo on the shoe cupboard, and you’re thinking of heaving out the Cuban heels and the platform soles, just hang on a minute. Despite their exotic fashion origins, that fancy footwear might…
Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien
Water quality may benefit from a new 50 million euro funding scheme to provide treatment in small communities without access to public wastewater infrastructure. Some 547 villages and settlements may be eligible for the scheme which aims to reduce risks…
Kinsale Harbour in West Cork. The Port is to get a new €1.2m fisherman's pontoon under Brexit adjustment funding announced by Government
Funds to help regions 'adjust' to Brexit will be used to fund major improvements at 14 harbours across West Cork it was announced earlier this week. As Afloat reported earlier, the grant is the largest ever funding announcement of its…
Celebrating the milestone ‘sod turning’ of the Salmon Weir Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge were (L to R) Colm Ó Ríordáin, Senior Executive Engineer, Galway City Council, Patrick Greene, Director of Services, Galway City Council, Uinsinn Finn, Senior Engineer, Galway City Council; Brendan McGrath, Chief Executive of Galway City Council; John Pentony, Jons Civil Engineering Company; Minister of State, Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, TD; Kealan Bolton, Jons Civil Engineering Company; Mayor of Galway City, Councillor Colette Connolly; John Rooney, National Transport Authority; Martin Jennings, Atkins Ireland; and David Minton, Director, NWRA
The first sod has been turned on constructing a new pedestrian and cycleway across the river Corrib – the first new bridge over the Atlantic coast river in over 30 years. The new Salmon Weir crossing will “draw pedestrians and…
The SOS Bearna delegation handing in a petition to Galway County Hall
Community group SOS Bearna has welcomed a decision by Galway county councillors to overturn a decision to permit the building to within just 15 metres of the shoreline. A setback of 30 metres from the shore has been reaffirmed for…
A new partnership between Rosslare and Dunkirk is to boost both regions and will include the promotion of cross-tourism attractiveness between the Irish and French ports
Wexford People reports of a new alliance between Rosslare and Dunkirk which is set to boost the economic, social, educational and cultural development of each region and promote cross-tourism attractiveness between the Irish and French ports. First mooted in late…
The Kinsale Area gas fields are located in the Celtic Sea, approximately 40km to 70km off the south coast of County Cork
May 10 has been set as the start date for decommissioning works on the subsea structure in the Kinsale and Seven Heads Gas Fields on the South Coast. The Kinsale Energy company which will undertake the work has told the…
Diving duck species have recorded the greatest decline across 97 lakes, rivers and coastal estuaries according to a new wetland survey. 15 waterbird species are “stable or increasing”, while 20 species are declining, Birdwatch Ireland reports. The Irish Wetland Bird…

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.