Pensioner months away from his home falling onto the beach after Storm Bram battering
An 80-year-old man could lose his seaside house to coastal erosion in just months after Storm Bram battered his back garden.Residents in Portrane, Co Dublin, are screaming for help as dozens of houses will be swept into the sea imminently if protection isn’t put in place.In April 2019, Grainne Hannigan’s home in the Burrow physically collapsed onto Portrane beach.Other residents living on the coastline are terrified this will happen to them, with Eamann Cahill believing his house could be gone when two more storms wreck the beach.The 80-year-old lost five metres of his back garden in Storm Bram alone, and constantly lives on the edge worrying about when the next battering will come.Speaking in his beloved house, Eamann said: “I’m here 42 years, from where I am sitting now you could not see the sea. There was a massive sand dune at the top of the yard. I can now see the sea looking out through that window.“I love the sea, but I’ve come to dread it. Every time there is a storm I say ‘Oh Jesus’ and it’s come to a point where I’m afraid to look out in the morning to see what more is gone, it’s no way to live.“High tide, storms, full moons, we are experts on those, that’s when it happens. We are sad, and frightened, which I’ve never been in my life. I’m angry, the neighbours are frightened, anxious and fearful.“It’s just crazy, year after year after year it has been monitored, surveyed by professional people and still nothing happens, there is no sense of priority.”In 2018, a 1km row of seabee concrete units was placed on Portrane Beach as an emergency measure against severe coastal erosion.However, these are not doing enough to protect residents, who have been calling for rock armour to be put in immediately to save their properties.Delays in protecting homes have arisen from the fact that Rogerstown Estuary, which includes Portrane Beach, is listed as a Special Area of Conservation under the EU Habitats Directive and the EU Birds Directive.“The birds are getting more priority than the humans, and they can fly to another home,” terrified Eamann told this paper. "About a year ago I thought there’s no need to worry, I’ll be dead before it gets to the house. But that’s no longer true. And I’m going nowhere.“I love the area, I love the sea, but now it’s my enemy.”Joe Duignan, who lives next door to Eamann, could also lose his house in just months if a stormy new year is in store.He said: “On Wednesday when I got home from work I lost five metres within the space of four hours. We lost more land in five hours than we did in five years. It’s constantly just falling away, the wind is now affecting it, it's not just the water.“We are at our wits' end really. In the blink of an eye here the other day the whole wall had fallen in, I’ve lost half my garden wall. I would reckon if we got the storm we got on Wednesday, two more or three of them and you will be at the very back of my house.”In August, the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority approved Fingal County Council’s application for the construction of a coastal protection scheme. This would provide eight groins positioned across the coastline, which are often rock or timber walls which are built perpendicular to the shore, designed to trap sand moved by longshore drift and prevent erosion.Local Labour councillor Corina Johnston said the planning application has yet to be submitted by An Bord Pleanála and residents have run out of time.She added: “We don’t have a date for when it is going to be submitted. There could be legal challenges with Europe which could delay this for years, it could be two years before any work starts on this beach.“Time is not on the side of the residents here, they are two or three storms away from being lost.” Wayne Hand’s house sits in front of the seabees that were placed on the beach seven years ago.During Storm Bram, his back garden was still battered, and he lost two metres.He said: “If you take an average storm on a high tide it takes one and a half metres, we have five metres before it becomes a problem for our driveway, that’s only three or four storms away.“People are living in fear, when they hear the water and the rain gushing around outside their property there’s nothing but worry and anxiety. If homes are lost here, generations lived along these beaches for years, decades, we need action.”Resident Doreen Ritchie has lost two football pitches of her garden in 15 years.She told the Irish Mirror: “I have lost another two metres of land, it slipped right down onto the beach and it’ll be washed away and that’s it, another bit of Ireland gone."Our country is going into the water, we have to do something about this, we can’t pretend it’s not happening. We have 600 people living on this road and at least half of them will be affected in the next 10 years if they do nothing.“The elderly people are having heart attacks almost every time there’s a storm warning, it’s disgusting to see people suffering like that.”For more of the latest breaking news from the Irish Mirror check out our homepage by clicking here.
