Kilmore Quay, Ireland

Kilmore Quay, Ireland: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Kilmore Quay is a fishing village in County Wexford on the southern coast of Ireland. Despite its modest size, it serves as a submarine cable landing point hosting two cables that connect Ireland to the United Kingdom. This pairing of cables makes Kilmore Quay one of the more active landing points within Ireland's national submarine cable network, which spans 16 cables across 14 landing points.

Both cables landing at Kilmore Quay operate on a short-haul corridor across the Irish Sea between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Solas cable and the Beaufort cable each establish a direct bilateral link between the two countries, reinforcing a concentrated cross-channel route from this single location on the Wexford coastline.

Cables Landing at Kilmore Quay

Solas is a submarine cable measuring 232 km in length, with a ready-for-service year of 1999. It connects Ireland and the United Kingdom, forming one of the earlier bilateral cable links in the Irish Sea. Kilmore Quay is one of its landing points on the Irish side of this connection.

Beaufort is a submarine cable measuring 38 km in length, with a projected ready-for-service year of 2027, currently in draft status. At just 38 km, it is a notably short cable, also linking Ireland and the United Kingdom. When complete, Beaufort will add a second, more compact cable connection alongside the longer Solas system at Kilmore Quay, further reinforcing the bilateral link between the two countries from this landing point.

Regional Context

Within Ireland's 14 submarine cable landing points, Kilmore Quay ranks among the more connected locations by cable count, hosting two cables and placing it in the top 93 percent of Irish landing points. Dublin leads the national network with three cables, while a number of other Irish landing points — including Ballinesker, Ballygrangans, Castlefreke, Clonshaugh, and Cork — each host a single cable. Kilmore Quay sits between these two tiers, sharing a bilateral UK-focused corridor rather than the broader intercontinental reach associated with some other Irish locations.

Network Role

Kilmore Quay functions as a two-cable landing point dedicated entirely to the Ireland–United Kingdom corridor. The presence of both the long-established Solas cable and the forthcoming Beaufort cable means this village in County Wexford will host two parallel bilateral links across the Irish Sea, one dating from the earliest period of Ireland's submarine cable history and one representing new capacity to be delivered in 2027.

Within the regional submarine cable graph, Kilmore Quay's concentration of Ireland–United Kingdom connections from a single coastal location on the southern Irish coast distinguishes it as a focused bilateral node, sitting alongside a broader set of Irish landing points that collectively serve both nearby and intercontinental cable routes.