Ardmore is one of many coastal areas of concern when it comes to erosion.
So says the Minister of State for the OPW, Patrick O'Donovan, who is visiting the west-Waterford seaside resort today.
Local representatives and the county council have requested that he look into what can be done to address the problem.
But speaking on Déise Today, Minister O'Donovan said there's more than Ardmore affected:
"It's actually the South East and the East are the areas that are probably the worst affected, purely in nature of the fact that [those areas have] the sandy quality soil, and the good quality soil.
"It's not like what would be in the West and South West, where you would have a much stronger rock.
"But in the South East and East, the rate of coastal erosion is something that I am particularly alarmed with and particularly concerned with."
Minister Donovan said that future generations will likely have to spend of 10s of billions of euro trying to address the problem.
He also hit out at the length of time Ireland's planning processes can take, and how any steps to mitigate the issue will likely face delays because of objections:
"The concern that I have is that the speed at which we are able to respond, given the nature of how the planning system works for us is so slow, is of concern. And I've said this to the Waterford public reps who have contacted me - Mary Butler and John Cummins and others, as well as the councillors that I'm going to meet down there [in Ardmore], and the officials of Waterford County Council.
"You know, this is something that is of concern and it's something that we're going to have to try and contend with within government."
Continuing, the Limerick native also outlined that other flooding problems still need to be addressed in this region, which he predicts will face planning problems as well:
"There was a major flood relief scheme done, for instance, in Waterford City. But there's a massive one that's needed in Cork City, there's a massive one that's needed in Limerick City.
"There's going to be objections in the trailer-load to them. Meanwhile, there are communities that are particularly vulnerable - and it isn't just in those large cities, but there's towns and villages all over Waterford.
"If they have tidal issues, if they have estuarine issues, if they have rivers susceptible to bursting their banks. And the OPW are coming in with the likes of Waterford County Council, trying to do our best and then out of the blue comes an objection."
