National Landslide Mapping

The Geological Survey Ireland has developed and maintained the national landslide database and national susceptibility map. Work began on this project following the major landslide events which occurred in 2003. A large portion of this work was carried out under the Geoscience Initiative 2007 – 2013.

Landslide Susceptibility Mapping Pilot Study

In May 2005 a pilot study was carried out by the Geological Survey of Ireland in order to develop a methodology for the systematic production of landslide susceptibility maps, which at that time had not been carried out in Ireland. The Bréifne Area located in North West Ireland was chosen as a suitable test region for this purpose. Landslide susceptibility maps were separately produced for: Bedrock Slides, Rock, Debris and Earth Falls, Debris and Earth Flows and Peat Slides.

In 2013 the Geological Survey Ireland (GSI) completed a landslide susceptibility mapping project as part of the Geoscience Initiative 2007-2013. This project was one of the main recommendations made in the 2006 publication "Landslides in Ireland" published by GSI and the Irish Landslides Working Group. Engineering consultants Mouchel Ireland Ltd. were commissioned to carry out the susceptibility mapping on behalf of GSI

The project developed a robust repeatable methodology for the production of landslide susceptibility maps in Irish conditions, based on available national datasets, and produced maps for two selected study areas; east Leinster and the greater Cork area. On these maps, areas of susceptibility are ranked according to slope stability into categories that range from low to high. It should be noted that the term "susceptibility" refers to the spatial distribution of existing and potential landslides. These maps should not be treated as "Hazard" maps which show the potential to cause damage or "Risk" mapping which shows loss potential.

National Landslide Database Development

In parallel with the pilot studies carried out to develop a national susceptibility map the national landslide database was also developed. This work consisted of several activities: identification of 'new' landslides, rationalisation of the GSI database, validation including fieldwork and documenting the location and attributes of the newly identified landslides.

On completion of the 2013 Geoscience Initiative project two further inventory campaigns were carried out in Counties Kerry and Mayo in 2013 and in Counties Donegal, Galway, Tipperary and Laois/Offaly in 2014. The purpose of this was to ensure that the most comprehensive database was available to underpin the development of the National Landslide Susceptibility Map .