DONEGAL TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn has written to Marine Minister Simon Coveney today, hitting out at his department’s ongoing legal action against the owners of Fahan marina.
JJ McDaid, the managing director of the Lough Swilly Marina had successfully defended a High Court action.
It was brought against them by then Minister Noel Dempsey.
Jusice Liam McKetchne had awarded the group €2.045 in damages, of which he said €1.545M had to be released immediately so that works could begin on the project, regardless of a possible Government appeal.
But the Government is appealing.
In his letter to Minister Coveney today, the Donegal Sinn Fein deputy wrote: “I am deeply alarmed to learn that your Department have recently taken further legal measures to curtail the work of Lough Swilly Marina, Co. Donegal.
“Despite many hurdles along the way, the directors of Lough Swilly Marina have managed to establish a marina with over 200 berths at Fahan, Co. Donegal. This is now a very important part of Donegal’s marine tourism infrastructure.
“Can you advise me as a local TD what the rationale for further delaying the next exciting steps for that marina is? What local or national economic or tourism interest is served? What rules or regulations have the directors of Lough Swilly Marina not adhered to that was not resolved by Judge McKechnie’s High Court ruling?
“The facts are that both Donegal County Council and your department have collectively spent millions of euro over the last decade either pursuing publicly funded marinas in Donegal that have never came to fruition or doing all in their power to close down the one marina that has actually become a reality. This defies all logic and in my view cannot be in the public interest.”
