God knows Youghal needs a lift at the moment but as far as Councillor Mary Linehan-Foley is concerned, the crack is a bit too mighty in one particular area of the town. The Fianna Fail representative was referring to breaks in the pavement when she referred to “the crack on the Lighthouse Hill” at May’s Town Council meeting –and she wasn’t laughing. “Its getting worse,” she warned.

A perusal of the area, which lies adjacent to the overhanging viewing area on the town side of the lighthouse, indeed shows a vertical fissure about four metres long. Not much room for a party, admittedly, but not a spot on which one might want to jump up and down anyway. Town engineer Paul Murray cast a professional eye over the area following the councillor’s warning and has decided that it ‘doesn’t seem to represent a structural fault.’

Nonetheless, there are those who will be aware that two viewing areas on the Moll Goggin’s side of the lighthouse are currently fenced off due to structural concerns. In one instance Cllr Barbara Murray last year drew attention to apparent cracks on the sea wall beneath one structure. Perhaps more relevantly, as Cllr Linehan Foley remarked to the council, half the Lighthouse Hill itself collapsed on one otherwise calm Sunday morning about 40 years ago. Might be as well to be ready to ‘let oneself go’ just in case the crack does take off on the hill one of these days. Youghal isn’t on the rocks……yet!