Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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The second Commencement matter is in the name of Senator of Malcolm Byrne. The Senator has four minutes.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter which is on the question of coastal erosion. The Minister of State, like I, comes from a coastal area. We are very familiar with the importance of our coasts and indeed our beautiful beaches. I know the Acting Chair will also be very familiar with this in his home patch. We are very fortunate as an island nation to have such beautiful coasts, in fact we have about 5,800 km of coastline right around our shores.

I very much welcomed the actions taken by Government when last October, the Department of housing and the OPW jointly published a national strategy to deal with the problem of coastal erosion and indeed how we look specifically at coastal management. We are very much aware of the threat of rising sea levels. If we continue to see the problem of the polar caps melting, that will have an impact on our shore. We can look at all the scientific evidence but I grew up very close to the sea and now when I walk along the coast, I can see how it differs from when I was child. You can see the accretion of sand, the movements of sand along the shore, the loss of land and the impact there. I very much welcomed it when the Government put together this strategy but as the Minister of State will be aware, simply putting together a strategy is not good enough and I hope we will hear today about progress on a number of the measures.

There was an indication that a number of them would be set up immediately. One was that there would be this interdepartmental working group to address all the issues. Another was that there would be greater levels of training for local authority staff in how to manage coastal change and that we would also start to establish a research database looking at the impact of coastal erosion of our coasts. Another was that a register of coastal infrastructure would be established because we know the reality is we are going to have to make decisions as to what it is we are going to have to save. We will continue to lose land to the sea.

What is also critical and very welcome in this document is a commitment to engage with the coastal communities. I certainly know that in Wexford the coastal communities are very familiar with what is going on in the areas where they live. They see the loss of habitat as well as obviously the loss of shoreline and the loss of some of our beaches. They want to work actively with Government agencies to protect insofar as possible our beautiful beaches but also our coasts. There is that commitment in there.

I am looking for an update on the implementation of the strategy. I will probably regularly look for this because in order to protect our coastal communities and our beaches, it is essential. It is vital for tourism but also for the people who live in those areas. For the natural habitats that are there, it is a really serious issue and I hope the Minister of State will be able to provide us with an update.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I thank Senator Byrne for raising this matter. The challenge posed by rising sea levels is clear. The practical implementation of measures to mitigate these risks, particularly for coastal communities, is of critical importance. I welcome the opportunity to bring some clarity on the matter.

Ireland’s coast faces many challenges associated with climate change, for example, due not only to projected sea level rise but also from increased storm frequency and intensity. These challenges have complex and multifaceted effects and there is a need for a framework to inform key decisions on how the State should best manage its changing coast having regard to such future risks and taking account of the complex inter-relationships that result from the interaction between the marine and terrestrial environment.

The Government established an interdepartmental group to prepare a national coastal change management strategy to scope out an approach for the development of a national co-ordinated and integrated strategy to manage the projected impact of coastal change to our coastal communities. The interdepartmental group was jointly chaired by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the OPW and supported by a technical working group.

The scoping report on national coastal change management was approved and published by the Government in October last year. That report set out 15 recommendations that inform an evidence-based coastal change management strategy to address and manage the impacts of coastal change over the short, medium and longer terms that will be put in place.The strategy set out in the scoping report involves an integrated whole-of-government approach with actions across many sectors and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is going to play a key role in co-ordinating and delivering the essential work programme. This work is being progressed through the establishment of an interdepartmental steering group. That group met in May 2024 and is due to meet again in the coming weeks. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage acts as chair of the steering group and as policy lead. In particular, it co-ordinates the work across Government with respect to responding in a co-ordinated way to the challenge of coastal change.

The OPW will act as the national lead co-ordinating body for the assessment of coastal change hazards and risks and the assessment of technical options and constraints.

With regard to responding to coastal change, local authorities are generally responsible for the management of matters associated with coastal change and erosion in their respective administrative areas. Other coastal risks, such as those to transport and agricultural business, are addressed locally and through appropriate sectoral responses. There are a number of ongoing programmes to inform how mitigation of the effects of coastal erosion can be tackled. For example, the OPW has an ongoing coastal monitoring survey programme and initial target sites were selected based on their significant exposure to coastal erosion and change. They are based on the recommendations of associated detailed coastal studies. The information that is derived from the programme will help inform and support the planning, design and testing of new adaptation measures to tackle the effects of climate change in the coastal zone.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. Senator Byrne has one minute to respond.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State and I welcome the establishment of the interdepartmental working group but it is critical that this is followed through with action. I want to see a situation whereby we see beaches like those at Courtown Harbour replenished. Obviously, there are many homes and other critical pieces of infrastructure around our coast that are at real risk. Establishing that database of infrastructure that needs to be protected is important. This is a multi-annual strategy that we are going to be dealing with for quite a long period and the urgency of this cannot be underestimated. As the Minister of State mentioned, every year we are seeing parts of our coast falling into the sea, not just from rising sea levels but particularly from storms. We really do need implementation of this strategy.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State has one minute to respond.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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There is a railway line that runs from Dún Laoghaire, which is my constituency, to Wexford. Along that route, Irish Rail has done a lot of work to map out where the likely erosion risks are within my own constituency and within Wicklow, near Wicklow town and probably within Wexford as well. Historically, that railway line has been moved back from the coast, close to where I live. Over 100 years ago it was moved back and I wonder whether it will have to be moved again. There are houses that are closer to the coast.

We cannot take a short-term-only strategy. We cannot just say to these homeowners that we will help them if their houses are about to fall into the sea; we have to take a longer-term strategy as well. However, we cannot ignore the short-term risks. That document from last year with 15 recommendations is meant to cover short, medium and long-term approaches. The Minister for housing acknowledges that there is a need for a longer-term, co-ordinated approach to tackling the issue of coastal change and to provide a framework for key decisions to be taken on how Ireland can best manage its coasts, being aware of future risks and the associated planning requirements.

I absolutely agree that coastal communities need to be included. If somebody is living in a house and is seeing, metre by metre, the cliff face getting closer to him or her, I can understand the anxiety of living there and wondering whether the house the person paid a mortgage on or inherited is going to be lost. In some areas this is the case, particularly where there have been glacial deposits and the type of soil is such that it can simply be washed away, a metre at a time, as we have seen in some cases along the east coast. Dealing with this is really complex and as the Senator knows, when one fortifies one part of the coast, often it has an effect further up the coast. We put in barriers, such as rock armour, but whatever we do in one part of the coast affects another part. It is a difficult thing. It needs co-ordination across Government and it also needs at the involvement of local communities.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State.