Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca has called for the problem of public access to the beach at Blainroe to be resolved by Wicklow County Council. “The beach in question, which is only accessible through Blainroe Golf Club, has been used for years by families with small children” says de Burca. “There is ramp access all the way down to the beach and it is a small safe beach for families”.

The Green Party councillor says that she has received reports that Blainroe Golf Club has now put up a notice next to the public access and is manning the gate, denying access to the beach. “Apparently, according to the Golf Club, members of the public using the beach are parking in the car-park, leaving no spaces for members, and using the golf-club facilities while dirtying towels and floors, and leaving dirty nappies lying around” says de Burca.

The Green Party councillor has called on Wicklow County Council to try to find a solution to the current standoff. She has proposed that a simple solution might be to deny access to the golf club itself, rather than to the entire beach, and to install public toilet facilities closer to the beach.

“This is not the first problem that has arisen with regard to Wicklow’s beaches this summer” she says. “Our beaches are amongst the finest assets that the county has, and I would like Wicklow County Council to be more pro-active about sorting out access and illegal dumping problems on our beaches as soon as they arise. Public demand for the use of our beaches is very high, particularly during such fine summer weather, and the council should use the powers it has to intervene quickly and to ensure that any problems that arise in relation to our beaches are sorted out as quickly as possible”.