Famous Achill beach returns once again to the Atlantic

GONE AGAIN  The sand from the beach at Dooagh in Achill is no longer on the shore.

Anton McNulty

The Achill beach which was the centre of international media coverage when it reappeared after 30 years has once again returned to the sea.
High tides and large rolling waves over the Christmas period dragged thousands of tonnes of sand off the beach in Dooagh back into the Atlantic ocean, replacing the golden strand with rock and stone once again.
The return of Dooagh Beach in April 2017, which was washed away in the winter of 1984/85, was one of the international stories of the year, making headlines all over the world, and brought camera crews from every continent to the village located close to Keem Bay.
SeΡn Molloy, the Manager of Achill Tourism, explained that while the weather was mild over the winter, locals feared that the beach would be lost due to recent high tides.
“Over the last two or three weeks there has been high tides and strong rolling waves coming in and smashing up on the beach. We noticed the sand levels were being gradually eroded and when that started to happen we knew it was gone.
“Everytime the tide went out it took sand with it and there must have been five to six feet of sand on the beach but that has been taken away. It is amazing that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of sand has been taken away and just shows the power of the sea,” he told The Mayo News.
The return of the beach in 2017 captured the imagination of the public with Mr Molloy saying that it helped boost tourism numbers to the island by up to 70 percent that year.
“There was something about the story which resonated with people, which I still do not understand why, but it did. We had camera crews from the UK, Germany, France, China and the publicity generated from the story helped bring people to the island. Even in the last few days, we had coverage in the national media and the UK papers have picked up on it. Even though the beach is gone, there is still positive coverage for Achill,” he said.
While the sand has been deposited into the sea, it has not gone too far with a sandbank created just off shore. SeΡn said he is hopeful that the weather conditions will blow some of the sand back onto the shore before it is all washed out to sea.
“There is a sandbank off the shore which you can see at low tide so the sand has not totally gone. If we get a few days of a northernly wind it might steadily wash the sand back onto the shore again and that is what we would be hoping for. If that happens there is a good chance it could be back again, but if it doesn’t, the sand will be washed out and who knows when the beach will appear again,” added SeΡn.