Totally right, Stephen, totally right.
It's even the same in railway preservation. I can think, over the last thirty years, of numerous examples of how the overall conservation of old railway assets could have flourished with "joined up thinking", but various groups held onto their own little psychological empires. Some still do. Probably the best example is the scattered Donegal stuff, under myriad owners in myriad locations, few secure. But i don't want to drag this thread off topic on this (valid for a different discussion, perhaps).
With regard to the coastline in Wicklow, erosion exists in various locations almost from the Mourne Mountain shoreline down to Rosslare. All local authorities, the coastguards, landowners and coastal town authorities, county councils, etc., all need to co-ordinate actions on this issue. If a consortium of such was to make a loud enough noise to the Government, it would haver a somewhat better chance of action resulting. No time for parish pump politics or rival local interests and gombeen men....