Cables the birds can’t see
At least 17 swans have died after hitting the cables of the Samuel Beckett Bridge since 2024, according to Kildare Wildlife Rescue. Eight died in 2024, three in 2025 and eight so far this year, RTÉ reported.
Andrea Porter, the charity’s wildlife first responder, told RTÉ that the injuries are “catastrophic”. Any swan taken off the bridge alive has had to be put down. The birds usually hit the cables with a shoulder as they try to fly between them. A swan’s eyes sit on the sides of its head, which makes it hard for them to pick out the diagonal cables across the 120m span.
Why high tide matters
Porter said most strikes happen at high tide, when the Liffey rises and there’s no longer room to fly underneath. Birds of all ages have been killed. She believes the real number is higher, because the charity only hears about injured birds and dead swans may drop into the river or be cleared away.
Depending on the time of year, there are between 30 and 140 swans downstream around Ringsend.
Danger on the deck too
Porter also raised a public safety point: these are “big birds flying at speed, and can fall onto cars on the bridge or into the Liffey”.
What the charity wants
Kildare Wildlife Rescue wants a study into the strikes and what could reduce them, including high-contrast markings on the cables.
The bridge opened in 2009 and was designed in the shape of a harp. If you find an injured swan, contact a wildlife rescue rather than trying to move it yourself.
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