Atlantic storm debris cleared by volunteers

Just days after the Connemara coastline felt the full wrath of an angry Atlantic, several hundred people turned out in Spiddal village this weekend to clear away tonnes of storm debris.

A quick text appeal the night before by residents Seán Ó Coistealbha and Jimmy Keady had yielded results, as the sea-strewn strand and promenade were tackled by a steady stream of volunteers in a couple of hours.

“People power,” said Mr Keady, as old fertiliser bags were filled with jetsam and flotsam, while hundreds of “slata mara” or sea rods were cleared from the upper shoreline for eventual transport to vegetable patches and polytunnels.

Overlooking a now tranquil sea on a sun-filled Saturday morning, dozens of volunteers donned miotóga, or gloves, with Eoin Ó Dómhnaill (12), Evan Feeney (8) and Aisling Conneely (9), all pupils of Scoil Éinne, among them.

Rocks, boulders, stones, plastic, pieces of timber, bottles and seaweed were gathered and sorted, while several JCBs and a pick-up truck, provided at no charge by brothers Timmy and Diarmuid Ó Flaitharta of Máirtín Ó Flaitharta Teo, removed larger material.

Evan Feeney said he found a parsnip – “and a dead crab” – below Spiddal’s pock-marked promenade, parts of which were ripped up in the storms.

“These little people will be here when we are gone, and they’ll remember this day,” Mr Ó Coistealbha said, expressing delight at the response.

Several currachs and yachts had been damaged in the harbour during the category one hurricane winds, and he said it was the worst he had witnessed.

“There were no currachs lost here on the night of the oíche na gaoithe móire – the big wind of January 6th, 1839 – so that says something about what we had last week,” Mr Ó Coistealbha added.

Mr Keady said an overall plan was required to protect Spiddal’s coastal walkway and boats in the harbour in future, but there was “plenty of local expertise and no need to be spending big money on consultants”.

Across Galway Bay, the Conservation Volunteers Group tackled the shoreline at Rinville, near Oranmore, while there were several similar community efforts from Co Wexford to Kerry to Lahinch in Co Clare.