Overtopping. This is surely the biggest problem facing any development at Bulloch. The point about this rather muddy photo is that it represents bad weather at Bulloch but by no means the worst weather.
The building with blue tarpaulin that you see to the left of the photo is the back roof of Western Marine – just the place where three massive, tall houses are proposed to be built. The rocks are part of the agglomeration of the Bulloch rocks. What happens with overtopping is that the submerged rock formations at this point of Dublin bay, a north east wind and a high tide combine to create huge waves that crash over the Bulloch rocks. The effect has been to deluge the land behind the rocks (gardens, backyards, Western marine) with huge quantities of water and projectiles. In less bad weather, as per the image above, the “spray” has been intense with significant volumes of water. Our video shows one moderately bad incident in 2017. The Western Marine structure is fairly bunker-like: would you build a much taller, heavily glazed house here? What damage will happen to these structures and especially to the roof gardens and lift housings?
On our stretch of coast overtopping happens only at Bulloch. Despite being an internationally recognised coastal phenomenon, it does not appear to have attracted attention here, probably because it is a very local and unpredictable phenomenon. Certainly, it appears to have escaped the notice of the public bodies (e.g. OPW, DLR county council) who need to know and understand its impact.
Bullock Harbour 