The Bunagee Marine Development at Culdaff will be officially opened this Friday.
The new development will be officially opened by Joe McHugh TD Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development.
This project which saw the development of a safe haven including a breakwater and pontoons to accommodate up to 15 vessels at Bunagee Pier was developed by Donegal County Council as part of a major cross-border and transnational project known as Sail West and involved 21 partners from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the West Coast of Scotland.
The new marine development at Bunagee is part of an overall Donegal County Council marine tourism strategy to grow our necklace of marine tourism infrastructure in order to bring Donegal to the forefront of marine tourism experiences in Europe.
The project cost just under €1.3million and was funded by the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Cross-border Programme managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. The project was constructed by Deane Public Works and Doran Consulting was awarded the contract as the Consultant Engineers.
Speaking before the official opening Cathaoirleach Cllr. Terence Slowey said that this project is a major boost for the development of the marine tourism sector not only in Inishowen but for the entire county.
“We have a wonderful marine tourism product here in Donegal and the new Bunagee Marine Development is a great addition to our existing infrastructure. Situated close to the beautiful village of Culdaff, Bunagee is an ideal base that will give visitors the opportunity to explore the Inishowen Peninsula and the county.”
The Bunagee Marine Development was constructed as part of the wider Sail West project which saw the emergence of the well known MalinWaters brand in 2010.
MalinWaters covers the shared maritime waters of North West Ireland including counties Donegal & Sligo, the maritime counties of Northern Ireland and Western Scotland. This region boasts fantastic opportunities for sailing, surfing, diving, kayaking as well as other water based activities.
While EU funding for the Sail West project ended in 2015, the project partners wished to continue on the success of marketing the MalinWaters brand and to maintain the very effective partnership with a view to leveraging future EU funding opportunities when they become available.
As a result of ongoing marketing activity awareness of the MalinWaters brand is growing with over 40% increase in visitors to the MalinWaters.com website in 2017 compared with the previous year with many enquiries being received about the new Bunagee Marine Development in recent weeks.
MalinWaters as the project is now known, is funded on an annual basis by the partners directly and is managed by the Donegal County Council Marine Tourism Officer to ensure the MalinWaters brand continues to progress in a positive direction.
The official opening of new Bunagee Marine Development at Culdaff will take place at 2.30pm on Friday 9 June.
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