Action demanded to prevent Mornington dunes from being ‘burnt and destroyed’

Calls have been made for urgent action to be taken to protect the Special Area of Conservation at the Dunes at Mornington from “being burned to the ground, defecated on and destroyed.”

Sinn Fein Cllr Maria White put forward a motion calling on Meath County Council to re install a concrete sign that stopped vehicle access to the site and to consider a compulsory order purchase of privately owned land at this location at recent Laytown/Bettystown meeting.

It follows a spate of incidents last summer that saw a number of blazes break out destroying parts of the dunes.

In July, revellers with up to 20 tents pitched up at the seaside village resulting in scorched dunes at Mornington and litter strewn in the reeds.

Beach visitors who overstayed their welcome lit fires, set off fireworks and left huge amounts of rubbish behind.

Last year Meath County Council also wrote to sports clubs in the area requesting them not to use the dunes for training as locals had reported an increase in this activity despite past calls for them not to desist.

In their response MCC said the property in Mornington where the sign was installed was private property and following the local authority's placement of the sign last year, solicitors for the owner of the site communicated that they would not permit any works on the lands therefore the signage was withdrawn.

They added that the dunes were a Special Area of Conservation and were the responsibility of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

It was noted that Meath County Council and the NPWS are finalising the Mornington Dunes Visitor Access and Conservation Management Plan which deals with access issues to the dunes and is presently with the ecological unit for finalisation. The local authority said it had no plans to purchase lands.

“We've been here before, we had a horrendous summer last year, and this has been raised multiple times,” said White.

“Last weekend, we had a club training (on the dunes) so this is starting again,” she added.

“The community are trying to address this issue in the absence of a warning and that can be quite intimidating for community members, asking a group of men who are training to stop. We had fires last summer, we had camping, people leaving rubbish. So the plan at the moment is to do nothing other than leave it with the National Parks and Wildlife Service?

“I believe we are leaders in our community and leaders do the right thing and now the right thing here is not to leave the dunes unprotected because they are being destroyed.”

Fine Gael Cllr Sharon Tolan was in agreement adding:

“I was invited by The National Parks and Wildlife Service to be part of the working group and I spent two years working on this visitor access and conservation management plan. We went through public consultation, we had public meetings out in the primary schools and we had it up online.

“We had plans agreed by the public and by NPWS and it is very, very frustrating to see that the lead authority in this country who is responsible for the protection of a special area of conservation is now sitting on a plan that could be could make significant changes that could protect that area.

“I would suggest that we write to them and ask what was happening with the plan and if we are going to spend another summer now pontificating about the protection of nature and sit and watch our nature here being burned to the ground, being defecated on and being destroyed?”

Independent Cllr Carol Lennon said: “As soon as the sun rises, we have people on the dunes. There was a group out last week training and they refused to identify themselves as to what team they were or who they were. It was absolutely shocking.

“What I would request is that again this year that the local clubs be advised to stay away from the dunes, or we will be taking action against by way of fines or whatever.”

It was decided that councillors would write to the NPWS to request an urgent update on the status of the visitor access and conservation management plan together with coordinating with the environment section to create a social media campaign to raise awareness and encourage the public to stay off the dunes. It was also agreed that a letter would be sent again this year from the council to local clubs advising them to stay away from the dunes.