Protest against land-grabbing caravan park in Arklow, Ireland

Featured image: Fallen metal fence on the route to the Porter’s rocks in Arklow, Ireland. Source: @AIAIreland on X

In Arklow, south-east Ireland, the residents are struggling against a land-grabbing caravan park, which has without the authorization of the town and the local people build a barrier to the popular route leading to the shore and the Porter’s rocks. On the 6th of January, a community protest was held. During the protest, the metal barrier fell and the protesters walked to the shore. The people of the town are denouncing that the the Arklow Holidays Ltd company is unauthorized limiting the access to the shore, on which generations of the local people have enjoyed their free time, for paying customers and tourists only. The path leads to a lighthouse, maintained by Irish Lights which also has the right of way to the path and maintains it, and has not expressed it wants the path blocked.

In 2017, the Arklow Holidays Ltd put a locked gate on the path. In 2019, the town issued several warnings for the company for the unauthorized building of the fence. Meetings were arranged, but the company just build more fences around the area. The case has also been taken to court, but nothing happened, and the residents’ demands have been ignored for almost a decade.