Friends Of The Cliff Walk Assess Latest Assessment

The long road home…

atest press release from Friends Of The Cliff Walk, issued on Tuesday, Sept 23rd 2025…

Consultant engineers retained by Wicklow County Council to examine the Bray Head Cliff Walk have concluded that simple and safe short term solutions exist allowing for the official reopening of the walk… if implemented.

These are the solutions which we and others have been advocating, in some cases for years, but which have been ignored by the Council.

In relation to the two specific problems that prompted the Council to close the Walk — the rock fall near Bray and the clay slippage above Greystones’ North Beach – the report states firmly that ‘the Do Nothing option… is not considered a viable option’.

But this is the option that Wicklow County Council has clung to for over four and a half years as it has abandoned the Walk and failed to resolve these problems and so restore public access to this Public Right of Way.

The report finds that the Walk, even in its current state of abandonment by the Council, ‘meets most of the requirements of the Walking Trails Criteria for Ireland’. It continues: ‘The majority of the criteria that it does not meet are minor…’ Where the Walk does not meet safety criteria, as in the rockfall and land slippage sites, the report states that ‘any potential options for remediation and/or an alternative route should have as many of the inherent safety issues removed as possible’.

We agree.

The 35-page report – link below – was written by Paul Jennings, a geotechnical director with RPS Group, consultant engineers based in Dun Laoghaire, and retained by the Council last June. The report is detailed and measured and outlines several options but does not recommend keeping the Walk closed. It does however contain detailed risk assessments and outlines several solutions to both problems.

In relation to the rock fall on Bray Head, the report says that wire netting and sprayed concrete is a tried, tested and effected method of stabilising the rock face. It describes this solution as ‘the industry standard for remedial works to stabilise rock slopes’.

On the clay slippage on the Greystones side, the report says ‘the walk should be temporarily and locally re-routed inland as far as is practical within the current landholding, this may be only say 5 metres’.

It continues: ‘A temporary fence should also be installed around the head of exposed landslide scars…’

Friends of the Cliff Walk did this, and erected safety signs, but these were removed last June by persons unknown. However, we have our suspicions.

This report advocates a number of longer term solutions, which are costed in general terms.

In our view, this report, which we welcome, bears careful reading. It is expert in quality, measured in tone and is unequivocal in its assessment of the importance of the Cliff Walk. It describes it as a notable popular amenity, serving the local community and attracting a significant number of tourists every year.

It is imperative now that all pressure is brought to bear on Wicklow County Council to accept and implement this report, without any further delays – including the short term solutions outlined.

We urge the Tánaiste and local TD Simon Harris to insist publicly that the chief executive of the Council, Emer O’Gorman, does exactly that, and accepts also the reports urgings that the Council implement a proper maintenance plan for the Walk. For years, the Council has failed to discharge its obligations in this regard, among others.

Likewise we call on all local TDs to join forces and insist on the reopening of this vital amenity, which has a public and mental health benefit to the community, and is a crucial driver of the local economy.

Councillors must also demand that the Council meets its responsibility to serve the community and cease defending a ‘do nothing’ position that, yet again, has been shown to be failing in its duty to the public. We need fewer photo ops and more focussed holding officialdom to account.

You can check out the full RPS report here, find out more about the recent Cliff Walk shenanigans here, explore its history here, see how it’s being ignored by Irish Rail here, catch them in Greystones on Sept 24th and Wicklow Town on Sept 25th, plus check out Friends of The Cliff Walk here.