Govt pumps €2.28m into Dingle harbour

THE bulk of the €2.28 funding allocated by the Government for work in Dingle Harbour this year will be spent on the ongoing dredging and marina extension project, which is currently running behind time.

The Kerryman understands that many of the individual jobs are on schedule but delays in some areas will significantly delay the completion of the overall project. It was initially hoped that all the work would be completed by St Patrick’s Day but it is now expected to continue into the month of May.

Of the €2.28 million funding announced by Agriculture and Marine Minister Michael Creed this week, €310,000 will be spent on ‘small job’ maintenance of lights, railings, tarmac, grass areas and other facilities, €21,000 is to be spend on providing ‘disability access’, and €300,000 is being set aside for upgrading the marina centre, ownership of which is expected to be transferred to the Dept of the Marine this year.

The remaining €1.65 million will be ploughed into extending the marina on the Cooleen side of the pier and the ongoing dredging project, which is expected to cost a total of €6.3 million. The dredging work is continuing from 8am to 8pm every day and testing was carried out on Monday to confirm if all the contaminated silt from the inner harbour has now been removed. This silt, is being pre-treated in temporary silos on the quayside before being transported to Milltown (Castlemaine) and North Kerry for decontamination and, if Monday’s testing gives the all-clear, the silos will be dismantled in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the dredging project has run into a difficulty over a ‘dumping at sea’ licence. Last November, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted a licence for the dumping of 61,000 cubic metres of non-contaminated sediment from the harbour’s main channel at a location 2km south of Dún Síon Head.

This sediment will come from the main harbour channel, where dredging has not yet started. However, the EPA has received complaints that buoys marking the dump site are less than 400 metres offshore and the agency is now seeking clarification and pre-dumping tests before any dumping will be allowed.

Dredging work is continuing around Dingle pier to allow ships of up to 110m dock in the port.