It is 3pm in Spendlove’s coffee shop overlooking Greystones harbour, in Co Wicklow. The views out to sea stretch to Howth Head in the distance and northwards over land to Bray Head.
At the counter, two women who were sitting in one of the picture windows are speaking French to each other as they get up and leave.
It is a cosmopolitan atmosphere. However, the French speakers are just remnants of an international clientele that once arrived from the nearby cliff walk.
Until about four years ago, walkers from continental Europe, the United States and further afield poured out from the hike in search of ice creams, coffees, lunch, and the Dart, which would bring them back to Bray or Dublin city.
The 7km cliff walk has been one of the most popular walks on Ireland’s east coast. Developed in the 1840s as an access route for workers building the railway line, it grew into a widely known amenity in the past 50 years or so. Wicklow County Council said some 350,000 people used the walk annually until it was closed on safety grounds in 2021.
The safety issues were the risk of rockfall on the Bray side, and erosion on the Greystones side – where the path literally fell into the sea.
“The closure hit us immediately. I would say we were first in the firing line, and then it hit everyone else,” said cafe proprietor Nigel Spendlove.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, who is from Greystones, stopped by the cafe on Sunday last and chatted to Mr Spendlove. The Taoiseach was meeting his party colleague, Cllr Louise Fenelon Gaskin, a long-time supporter of the cliff walk, and afterwards Mr Harris and Ms Gaskin announced the setting up of a taskforce to reopen the walk.
Describing himself as “an avid walker, and someone who grew up nearby the cliff walk”, Mr Harris said he knew its importance to the community. “I will convene a taskforce with all the relevant stakeholders, State agencies and Wicklow County Council so we can get this walk reopened.”
Mr Spendlove gave the commitment a cautious welcome; “If there is a will, there is a way,” he said.
On Trafalgar Road, Claire Cullen, who runs The Fat Fox cafe and cake shop, said the closure had cost her “500 customers a week. That is 2,000 customers a month – it is a lot for any business to take”, she said.
She expressed cautious optimism, but stressed the comparison with Howth Head where there were coastal cliff walks that were totally unprotected. She welcomes the taskforce, “if it is necessary”.
On Tuesday night, the recently formed Friends of the Cliff Walk group, which has been actively cutting back four years’ worth of growth on the route, made a presentation to Wicklow County Council on the issue.
The group, which counts more than 900 members on its Facebook page, cautiously welcomed the Taoiseach’s commitment to reopening the walk. Spokesman Peter Murtagh, a former Irish Times reporter, said “a sense of urgency and commitment must be applied to overcoming the challenge of doing that. The Taoiseach’s taskforce must have a deadline – and a short one at that.”
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