Concerns raised over climbing sand dunes

Speaking at last week’s meeting of the Inishowen Municipal District, colr Martin McDermott said he approached a family on the beach around two weeks ago about this behaviour.

“The children were climbing the sand dunes, I said to them if the dunes collapse your children are dead. It wasn’t 20 minutes later and a big wedge of sand came down,” he said.

Colr Bernard McGuinness said there was a similar situation in Culdaff. “Areas should be roped off because they are dangerous to young children,” he said.

Mr Con McLaughlin, Environment Services Donegal County Council asked what the Inishowen members thought about the idea of fencing the sand dunes off.

“A professor in Coleraine has recorded that trampling is a problem. One way of stopping that is to install chestnut fencing.

“It isn’t easy at Lagg with a vertical face on the dunes, but I think we should discourage access to the dunes,” he said.

Colr McGuinness said he believes a simple sign stating ‘Danger’ would suffice, but Mr McLaughlin said signs had previously been placed at Lagg but they were repeatedly destroyed. “Keeping people off the dunes altogether is one option to consider. It might be a better idea to join all parties together for a solution when a consultant is in place,” he added.