New site for Kilmore Quay Coastguard
TENTATIVE plans have been drawn up for a new Kilmore Quay Coastguard station on a site made available by Wexford County Council near a proposed inner relief road but planning permission has not yet been applied for.
Representatives from the environment and property departments of the Council were due to meet senior officials from the Coastguard on Monday to discuss the proposed site after meeting earlier with a senior OPW architect.
In a timeline report presented to the District Council, engineer Gerry Forde said the local authority has been assisting the OPW in the provision of a site for a new Coastguard station in Kilomore Quay for the past eight years and since 2013 has been talking in terms of providing land in Council ownership, although the responsibility for the project lies with the OPW.
In 2014, a site at the public toilets was discussed and preliminary drawings prepared but the area was deemed unsuitable by both the OPW and Wexford County Council due to insufficient space. Again, in 2015, a site in Council ownership near the Memorial Garden was considered but was not proceeded with by the local authority because there is not a public sewer nearby.
Between 2015 and 2018, additional lands were acquired by the Council in Kilmore Quay, adjacent to the proposed inner relief road. After reviewing all options, the preferred site is one of two sites in this area, he said.
Cllr. Ger Carthy said he asked for a trace of all the emails received and sent in relation to this project and wanted to know if there was a data protection issue here.
‘Are the elected members not allowed to have access to these emails to see exactly what went on. One question I have is in relation to the original site beside the current coastguard station. Can you tell me for the public record why it wasn’t suitable’.
‘We never said it wasn’t suitable, this site is less suitable than other sites which are more suitable. We decided we would not dispose of it to the OPW’, said Deputy Chief Executive Tony Larkin. ‘There has been a lot of heat added into this unnecessarily. What is needed is a Coastguard Station. We are willing to provide a site for a Coastguard station. At the end of the day, I don’t think adding more heat is helpful’, he said.
Mr. Larkin said he was not willing to provide the members with communications between the Council and a statutory agency about the acquisition of sites.
‘Can we not do a Freedom of Information request’, asked Cllr. Carthy.
The Chief Executive told him that he would be informed it is a matter that is not amenable to an FOI.
Cllr. Lisa McDonald said her main issue was the manner in which it was dealt with. When councillors raised it recently, they were told there were issues with the site but no-one could tell them what the issue were’.
‘All I’m interested in is that it’s handled with transparency and that the matter is handled correctly’.
Gerry Forde: ‘It’s not our statutory responsibility to provide a site for the Coastguard but we are trying to identify a site for them. The best sites available are one and two.’
Tony Larkin: ‘Where a lot of the confusion is arising is that Coasguard members in Kilmore Quay have opinions on where it should go. I have no problem in them being part of the process but it’s up to their own Coastguard to bring them into the process. Our channel of communication in relation to it is with the OPW.’
Cllr. McDonald asked him if a one-line communication was sent to them, withdrawing the original site.
‘Tony Larkin: ‘They asked us would be sell the site to them. We said no but we would work with them in identifying an alternative site. the OPW had no problem with our answer. It’s not our job to keepmembers of the Coastguard informed. If we were providing a school site we wouldn’t be consulting with the teachers but with the Department of Education. It’s the same channel of command here’.