A Donegal County Councillor has urged the government to get on with providing further funding for the Greencastle Breakwater project instead of completing ‘half a job’.
Cllr Martin Farren was speaking after three yachts were damaged in the area last week following a heavy storm.
One of the yachts in question was a 33-foot vessel, while two other yachts, including a pleasure cruiser, were also heavily damaged.
Moville man, Farren, said damage to the yachts would have been avoidable if the Breakwater project in Greencastle had been completed.
He told Donegal Daily: “Just short of €10million has already been spent on the Breakwater Project in 2010, when the then government put the project on hold due to the financial difficulty the country found itself in.
“However, we were given an assurance that once that difficulty had finished and things began to pick up, that we would get further funding for the project.
“And now, almost a decade later, it is going to take at least another €10million to complete the project.
“Donegal County Council is obliged to pay 25% of that and in fairness, they have already committed to that 25%, there is no problem there.
“I have travelled to Dublin on numerous occasions with the Greencastle Harbour Users Association, the Derry Port and Harbour and a number of other representatives to meet officials in an attempt to get the Breakwater project up and running again.”
The Inishowen Councillor is now urging Donegal representatives across the county, especially those in the Oireachtas, to apply pressure on the government before the upcoming budget.
He continued: “The breakwater really needs to be completed because there are major plans for the area in the near future in terms of tourism.
“What we would like to see happening is an actual extension to the Greencastle Harbour built, but in order for these plans tp materialise the Breakwater project needs to be completed.
“And if the government fail in supplying further funding then they might as well of threw the €10million already spent into the Foyle.
“You cannot leave a job half done, the breakwater is needed for the protection of vessels in the harbour.
“It is extremely important that all of the Oireachtas members from Donegal ensure that money is kept aside in the upcoming budget for the project, it is a vital importance.
“We need to be singing of the one hymn sheet in relation to this matter because it is going on for far too long.”
