"You have the real extreme version, you close it off. But again, locals have been going to the beach for decades … they’re not the ones that get into the accidents there. It's mainly tourists."
At the eastern end of Howth Head, down a trail that comes off the main loop path, at the bottom of the cliffs, there’s a little sandy beach.
On Google Maps, it’s labeled “A Tiny Hidden Beach”, “Welton’s Bay”, and “Freshwater Bay Beach”. It’s also known as “Whitewater Beach”.
There’s pages to scroll on TikTok and Instagram hashtagged #atinyhiddenbeach and other related phrases, featuring the rocky, picturesque shore.
It has colorful rounded stones and deep blue water enclosed by tall jagged rocky cliffs covered with low-lying shrubs.
Social media posts about it show aerial footage from drones, or clips of the steep narrow hike down the cliff to the sea.
Eva Eda says she learned about it from TikTok. “I was researching hiking spots in Ireland when I came across someone’s video showing this beach, and it immediately caught my attention,” she says.
She visited it and then posted about the beach in her feed too, alongside videos of her favorite travel spots – spreading the word further.
With the beach’s fame spreading on social media, its stewards have been thinking about whether it needs to be closed off, or made safer.
The problem is that the route down consists of a steep rocky set of stairs, sometimes no stairs.
There have been at least 17 Coast Guard incidents connected to the spot since 2020 – including falls, strandings, and rescues – with seven call-outs in 2023 alone, according to the Department of Transport.
In late June, a teenager fell off the cliff above the beach and sustained “multiple lacerations and suspected fractures”, according to the RNLI.
In early September, an American tourist, a man in his twenties, was climbing up a cliff from the beach when he fell “from a significant height” – he was rescued and taken to hospital, RTÉ reported.
And in 2021, a 26-year-old from Saudi Arabia drowned while swimming off the beach, according to the Independent.
Fingal County Council Biodiversity Officer Hans Visser said a big problem is visitors taking alternative routes back up from the beach.
“When we met the Coast Guard in relation to that, they did ask, is there anything that you might be able to do in relation to this,” Visser said.
Much of Howth is under a Special Amenity Area Order (SAAO), and the council has a management committee overseeing it.
“Because of its outstanding beauty, special recreational value and nature conservation interests,” it says in Howth’s SAAO guidelines.
The SAAO means there are stricter planning controls for the area, to keep it beautiful.
That management committee held a community information night at the Howth Yacht Club on the evening of 17 September.
It’s an annual thing, to update local residents on what’s been happening in the SAAO area, and what’s planned for it.
When the tiny hidden beach, also known as Whitewater Beach, came up at the meeting, several of the approximately 100 people said they were familiar with it.
One woman called out that her friends went to that beach, and that it used to be called 199 Steps.
The attendees discussed adding rope handles for the way down, like the ones the council has installed along the well-trodden path above that people descend to the beach from.
A couple of people suggested putting up signs. Perhaps, someone suggested, they could do ones like the new ones on Ireland’s Eye, since it is a special conservation area, that emphasise visitors not disturb the birds and trample on plants.
Others wanted it removed from Google Maps, which specifically labels it, “A tiny hidden beach”, but the general feedback at the meeting was that this wouldn’t address the beach's viral popularity.
Later on the phone, Visser, one of the council staff members that supports the SAAO Management Committee, said one option to keep people from getting hurt at the beach is just to close off access to it.
“You have the real extreme version, you close it off. But again, locals have been going to the beach for decades … they’re not the ones that get into the accidents there,” he said. “It’s mainly tourists.”
The beach is private property, Visser said.
“In fairness, the landowners that we have been working with have always been very facilitating,” he said. “But they do pay public liability as a result of it, which is not acknowledged anywhere.”
The beach’s ownership isn’t registered on Tailte Éireann’s landdirect.ie website.
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said he was “Unsure which company currently has oversight, but maybe try Ronan Group Real Estate”. RGRE hasn’t responded to a query about the ownership of the beach.
Visser said on 23 September that he wasn’t sure who owned the beach.
Even though the beach is privately owned – by someone – Howth Head is unusual because of the SAAO, so the council has more oversight than in other areas, Visser said.
They will work on private land more, but they do need permission, Visser said.
However, if the council does put in better steps, or ropes, or signs, that would mean assuming some liability in case of another accident, Visser said.
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council, though, said that the council “has no remit to upgrade steps or provide signage on private property outside the looped pathway network on Howth”.
Of eight Instagram users who’d posted about the beach recently, most said they didn’t think the council needed to make any changes.
“I believe the more we can preserve the natural environment, the better,” said Eva Eda. “If signs or handles were installed, it might attract more visitors, which could lead to environmental damage over time.”
Carlos Corea, who’s currently a chef in Brussels, but spent two years studying English in Dublin, said via WhatsApp, he didn’t see change as necessary.
“Nope, that kind of news do not change my mind tho,” Corea wrote. “I really like that Tiny Hidden Beach.”
Julia Thiel said she was visiting from Poland, and a friend had told her about the beach – and how to get there.
“It's quite steep but getting there didn't feel dangerous to me, more like an adventure,” Thiel said. “But I think a rope handle would be very useful, especially for older people or people with mobility issues.”
“Regarding the signs, I think that's a good idea but, from the other hand, installing them would make this place much more popular and crowded,” she said. “I think that part of the charm of Tiny Hidden Beach is that it's hidden.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
But so far this year, Dublin City Council has only issued two fines for dog fouling, according to a council spokesperson.
“We are approaching the point (if we’re not already there) where we can justifiably claim that competition has failed,” says Labour energy spokesperson Ciarán Ahern.
“I think it should absolutely be targeted at the communities that are most at the front line of combatting crime."
But it’s on the way, says Fergus O’Carroll, the council’s senior executive parks superintendent for the area.
