private beach

[dunner]

Is there such a thing in this country as a "private beach".
Or can you land off your kayak where you like?

[Dave]

This is always a bit of a sticky issue but as I understand it the notion of a private beach in Ireland is a bit misleading as the foreshore between the high and low watermarks is incapable of ownership, it belongs to the state and cannot be owned, or at least that is what we were always thought in our law lectures. You can only own land above the high spring tide line and everything below it is public property. There are Foreshore licences which allow people to build on or use the foreshore in some way but that's a separate issue. Anyway even though you cannot own the beach itself or more specifically the foreshore you can own the access to it and thereby prevent people from getting to it however in fact they have a right to be there should the succeed in getting to it without trespassing on private land. So to answer your question my understanding of the legal side to this is that if you access the beach from the water or even along the foreshore then you have a right to be there as it is public property. However I'm not a solicitor so I'm open to correction on that but from what I remember that's the general gist of it, anyway its all covered in the Foreshore Act anyway but it is a bit wordy.

[dunner]

Thanks... i have always thought that was the case..but someone said i could be wrong and its good to know where you stand if challenged....

[oneillphil]

Dave is 100% right, every beach, estuary, river etc is covered.

[bitsinbobs]

is it the same here in the north ? have seen a few choice looking places but only way down to them seemed to be through a garden

[JonnyMac]

I know this is an old post but it is worth bringing up again.

Just because the land to the high shore mark is owned by the government (there are always exceptions to this rule) it does not necessarily mean that it should be accessed. Near me i know of a firing range with an exclution zone that goes out 1nm to sea and it is about 1km long and also a senestive wild life reserve that can not be access either. Buy a chart for the area of sea you are going out in and you will be able to see this type of information. Charts are you firend!!