{"id":287437,"date":"2026-01-16T11:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T11:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/287437\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T11:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T11:22:08","slug":"bray-to-greystones-cliff-walk-set-to-be-closed-for-another-three-years-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/287437\/","title":{"rendered":"Bray to Greystones cliff walk set to be closed for another three years \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bray<\/a> to Greystones<\/a> cliff walk is expected to be closed for another three years, Wicklow County Council<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

The 7km long scenic trail with views of the Irish Sea has been closed to tourists and locals for five years next month due to multiple landslides which have made sections of the route unstable.<\/p>\n

The walk is 100ft above sea level and takes in views of Bray Head, Killiney Hill, Dalkey Island, Lambay Island and the Dublin to Rosslare rail line.<\/p>\n

The lengthy closure has drawn criticism from locals due to what was signalled as a temporary shut down of the walk now running into its fifth year.<\/p>\n

Campaigners and locals argue the council has not been proactive enough about reopening the route.<\/p>\n

Friends of the Cliff Walk are local activists that began clearing overgrowth from the Greystones end more than a year ago. However, the council stressed that this overgrowth had been purposefully allowed to develop to deter people from using the closed path.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris<\/a> previously said that he shares the frustration of locals due to the ongoing closure of the walk and is \u201cdeeply unhappy\u201d about the matter.<\/p>\n

However, the latest report presented to the council last Wednesday outlined the possibility of the walk being closed for another 36 months.<\/p>\n

The Bray to Greystones Cliff Walk Management Committee including the council met this week to discuss finding from RPS Consultants Ltd, a consulting and engineering experts. <\/p>\n

The presentation focused on the findings and summary of the report, proposed next steps, potential environmental screening requirements, the planning consent requirements, challenges and constraints and estimated timeline for delivery.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the council said that \u201cpotentially the conservative timeline\u201d for undertaking the necessary steps to reopen the walk is \u201c36 months\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe cliff walk, with the Irish Rail line below, overlooking Dublin Bay. Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n

The council pointed out in the statement that Bray Head is designated as a Special Area of Conversation (SAC) and as such any plan or project is subject to screening for Appropriate Assessment under the EU Habitats Directive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process aims to protect Europe\u2019s most valuable and threatened species and habitats,\u201d the council said.<\/p>\n

RPS Ltd has undertaken preliminary assessments of the proposal to carry out works on the cliff walk and has determined these may have a significant effect on the SAC and \u201ctherefore extensive environmental surveys will be required under EU and national legislation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Members of the committee expressed their \u201cdisappointment and frustration\u201d about the potential timelines outlined and the continued closure of the walk. <\/p>\n

Committee chairwoman Green Party councillor Erika Doyle said while the timeline given for the proposed full remediation project is \u201cdisappointing and not what any of us wanted to hear,\u201d it acknowledged that statutory processes such as planning applications, environmental assessments and procurement, \u201cstem from national and European legislation and cannot be bypassed\u201d. <\/p>\n

Cllr Doyle added that the committee will now \u201cinvestigate\u201d if other remediation methods might \u201crequire a shorter lead in period.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed out that the committee will work alongside the council towards \u201csafely reopening the cliff walk in the shortest possible time frame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile a new fence has been erected at the Greystones end of the walk. A council spokesperson said: \u201dSafety fencing and signage that had previously been erected by Wicklow County Council and removed by persons unknown was reinstalled\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bray to Greystones cliff walk is expected to be closed for another three years, Wicklow County Council…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-287437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-latest-news","17":"tag-latestnews","18":"tag-main-news","19":"tag-mainnews","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115904521364920842","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}