Town Turns Out For Cliff Walk Balk Talk

Jaysus, they’ll let anyone in to these things…

atest press release from Friends Of The Cliff Walk, issued on Thursday, November 20th, 2025…

A public meeting organised by Friends of the Cliff Walk has heard how its closure has deprived the local community of an asset that was vital to public health in general and mental health in particular.

A trio of high profile speakers rowed in behind the campaign to get the walk reopened. Much of what was said was supported by local councillors in attendance. The Tánaiste Simon Harris’s Task Force is due to meet next week when Wicklow County Council say the estimated costs of fixing and reopening the walk are between €8 and €10 million.

Broadcaster and Greystones resident Craig Doyle described how he treasured the walk as a young man and recalled courting his future wife while the pair walked it, taking in the local scenery. He described the view of the Irish Sea as a “giant calming breath”.

He said when making a film about the walk for a UK television station about two years ago, he had not mentioned that it was closed. His said he reassured his producers there was no need because it would be reopened long before the film was shown on TV.

He could not believe how it was still closed.

Musician Niall Breslin, who has campaigned for better understanding of mental health problems and described how outdoor exercising has helped him, said people should be asking the question why Wicklow County Council closed the walk and had failed to reopen it.

Why had bureaucracy not sorted out the problem?, he asked.

Bray Head gate THURS20NOV25

Brendan Kelly, a professor of psychiatry and practitioner at Tallaght Hospital, said there was a well-established benefit to mental health through outdoor activity. This was especially true he said when that activity, rather than being in an urban setting, was in green open spaces that were convenient and local.

In a witty and engaging short address, he said that by walking a person’s perspective was altered and problems were processed, sometimes by sharing them along the way. He said that for some people, walking could be a spiritual experience.

Answering questions, Doyle and Bressie said they felt the walk was safe. Prof Kelly spoke of the problems that arose when a society became overly risk averse.

Temple Carrig principal Deborah Crean said that access to the walk was greatly missed by the school, especially teenagers. She said the school felt unable to send any of its 950 students out to enjoy the walk for fear of litigation if anything went wrong.

Cliff Walk campaign activist Peter Murtagh highlighted that the recent report by the RPS Group of engineering consultants did not, in its original version, assert that the walk in its present condition pose a risk to the public.

However, in a final version, published after review by the Council, had the claim that the walk posed ‘a significant safety risk to the public’ had been inserted into the executive summary and was not substantiated in the main body of the report.

It was a value judgment reflecting the council’s position.

The meeting, which was shown images and videos of the walk and how parts of it could be reopened speedily, was attended by about 100 people, many of them walkers. They all expressed annoyance at the continued closure of the walk and said politicians had to sort it out.

Local councillors attending included local independents Orla Finn and Tom Fortune, and Joe Behan of Bray. Other councillors and TDs had sent their apologies, said Mr Murtagh.

Speaking from the lectern, Orla Finn said she supported everything that had been said at the meeting and she, like all the councillors, wanted to see the walk reopened. She urged Simon Harris, now finance minister, to find the money and get the job done.

Joe Behan and Tom Fortune agreed. Mr Behan urged everyone at the meeting to write to politicians (email addressed were circulated by the organisers) asking them to force the council into action. Mr Fortune said the most important thing to get matters moving forward was a deadline for reopening and a timeline for actions.

Mr Murtagh said the campaign hoped to hold a public meeting in Bray in the near future and thanked everyone for their support.

Thanks to our ace snapper John McGowan for capturing the talk – full gallery of hi-res pics from the night here.

You can check out the full RPS report here, find out more about the recent Cliff Walk shenanigans here, explore its history here, and check out Friends of The Cliff Walk here.