Voluntary Conservation for Ireland’s Coastal Ecosystems

South East Coastal Protection Alliance is a voluntary conservation organisation of citizen worried about the devastating environmental impacts of building and maintaining offshore renewable infrastructure on the Arklow Sandbank. 

Once Ireland’s largest oyster reef, the Arklow Sandbank is both a rich habitat and a natural buffer to storm tides. It is circa 3 km wide and 30 metres deep and stretches 27 km from Wicklow Head to Kilmicheal Point and protects eleven beaches from erosion. These include; Silver Strand, Magheramore, Magherabeg, Jacks Hole, Brittas Bay, Buckroney, Ennereilly, Clogga, Kilmichael, Kilpatrick and Kilgorman Strand. 

It is a valuable climate action resource that sits between 6km and 13km from the coastline in an area of natural beauty. It has the capacity to reduce wave energy, stabilise sediment, store carbon and sustain an ecosystem of seabirds and mammals with shellfish and sandeels; critical components of the marine food chain. We believe it must recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and safeguarded with full Special Protection Area (SPA) status.

Our campaign is now at a crucial point as An Coimisiún Pleanála has given SSE Renewables Sure Partners Ltd until the 18th April 2026 to answer their Request for Further Information on the application to build up to 56 new turbines on the Arklow Sandbank. We are advocating for the environmental protection and restoration of the Arklow Sandbank under the Nature Restoration Act 2024 and for all future offshore renewable energy proposals to be fully compliant with EU Environmental Laws and the Aarhus Convention. Please sign and share our petition here

Damaging the Arklow Sandbank weakens our natural defences to climate change; restoring it strengthens our coast for generations with a sustainable nature-based climate infrastructure. Let’s do offshore wind properly. The Arklow Sandbank is not a suitable location to build a giant wind farm.