Marram Grass Planting event takes place in Bettystown as part of the Clean Coasts Roadshow

Clean Coasts recently teamed up with Bettystown Tidy Towns and Utmost International for a morning of marram grass planting at Bettystown as part of the 2023 Clean Coasts Roadshows.

This event was an extension of a previous marram grass planting session at Bettystown a couple of weeks previously. It is hoped these planting days will really help the dune to protect again erosion, and over the two planting days 50 people turned up to volunteer and covered over 200 meters of dune planting.

The initiative was launched in February, and so far, over ten events took place all across Ireland, including marram grass planting workshops, family days, beach cleans, nature walks, biodiversity workshops and more. The Clean Coasts Roadshow are a series of free talks and workshops for coastal communities which take place all around the coast of Ireland between February and May each year. The Roadshow aims to bring together all those with an interest in protecting their local beaches, seas and marine life and environment.

The Roadshow events are a mix of talks and workshops covering topics such as biodiversity, dune systems, marine litter, wildlife, sustainable developments, work by local groups and organisations, and more. Usually, Roadshows are an occasion to discuss how community groups can build capacity with volunteers, attract new members and share the workload amongst the group, as well as look at various funding streams groups can avail of, including our Clean Coasts grant scheme for 2023.

In 2023, Clean Coasts is celebrating its 20th birthday. Since 2003, Clean Coasts has been working with communities to help protect and care for Ireland’s waterways, coastline, seas, ocean and marine life. In 2023, the Clean Coasts Roadshow represent the first opportunity for the programme to connect and celebrate the communities and volunteers who have contributed to the growth and success of Clean Coasts over the years.