Dublin’s Sandymount, Clontarf, Rush and Portrane, Galway’s Salthill and Meath’s Bettystown and Laytown are among vulnerable coastal hotspots identified in a study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The DETECT project at University College Cork (UCC) has examined the entire Irish coastline at 250m (820ft) intervals. Each coastal segment was classified from “very low” to “very high exposure”.
DETECT stands for Digital Environmental Technology for Enhanced Coastal Zone Management.
The UCC teams says that by integrating existing datasets (IPCC, Copernicus, EPA) with emerging technologies (multispectral drone mapping, 3D modelling) and advanced methodologies (CFD, geospatial modelling), DETECT can deliver a state-of-the-art simulation framework for Ireland’s protected habitats.
The Roger Casement statue at the Dun Laoghaire Baths on Dublin Bay is pounded by waves during Storm Chandfra Photo: Afloat
Writing in The Irish Times, Kevin Walsh, a geoscientist and a PhD student in UCC’s geography department, explained that the geographical distribution of coastal hazards varies considerably.
“Some coastlines are frequently impacted by storm waves and winds; others are composed of soft, easily erodible material; and some are low-lying and prone to flooding from storm surges,” he has said.
“In the area surrounding Salthill in Galway city, for example, an estimated 7,500 people live within an exposure hotspot. This area is prone to coastal flooding from wave overtopping and storm surges. These can be particularly destructive when combined with high tides and driving south-westerly winds, as was seen in Galway during Storm Debi in 2023,”he said.
“In Dublin city, Sandymount and Clontarf were also revealed by our research to be significant coastal exposure hotspots. These hotspots are home to an estimated 6,301 and 4,466 residents respectively,” he said.
“Coastal flooding has been a long-standing issue for these low-lying suburbs. And while both areas have existing defences in place, they require upgrading due to deterioration and also to account for rising sea levels,” Walsh said.
He said that exposure hotspots encompassing Bettystown and Laytown in Meath, and Rush and Portrane in Dublin are each home to over 4,000 residents – with “homes, businesses and infrastructure located just metres from an encroaching shoreline”.
“There has also been a noted depletion of sand from the beaches adjacent the Bettystown and Portrane. In both instances, this sand appears to have been deposited further to the north,” he has said.
As Afloat reported last month, Dr Iris Möller, Trinity College, Dublin professor of geography has said that planning must be put in place as a matter of urgency for extreme weather events on the Irish east coast.
She was responding to the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) State of the Global Climate report 2025 which confirmed 2015-2025 as the hottest 11 years on record
She has said that while Ireland now has an Interdepartmental Coastal Management Group charged with implementing the coastal change management scoping strategy, “the process must be led jointly with affected communities”.
“We must not leave anyone behind, least of all those who live and work at the coast and who have much local knowledge to offer,” she has said in The Irish Times.
