Fishermen make historic return to local harbour
ALMOST 13 YEARS SINCE VACATING THE HARBOUR AHEAD OF MAJOR WORKS, COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN ARE PERMITTED TO FISH OUT OF GREYSTONES AGAIN
OVER 12 years since commercial fishermen left Greystones Harbour, they are permitted to fish out of their home port once again.
Agreement was reached last Wednesday afternoon, in a meeting between fisherman Ivan Toole and Brendan Sheehy of Sisk.
Ivan, and fellow fishermen Tim Storey and Eric O’Riley have been able to land their catch there since then.
There were protests last summer with the fishermen, their families and supporters demanding that they be allowed to work from the local harbour.
They left the area to fish from Dun Laoghaire as work started on the new harbour, with assurances that they would be coming back.
Subsequent plans and construction made no provision for fishermen to be able to land catch in or work from the area.
A boat yard is situated at the area they expected to be allocated.
The last meeting they had with stakeholders, including BJ Marine, the council and developers, took place before Christmas.
Agreements were made that they would be allowed land their catch, with some restrictions, in a compromise to bring the dispute to an end.
‘We had about seven meetings over the winder and thrashed out a deal,’ said Ivan. ‘It wasn’t ideal, but in the interest of getting it across the line we said we’d agree and figure out the rest.
‘They said we could land, they were giving us the fishing huts, but they weren’t giving us the wall, rather swinging moorings at the outer part of the harbour.’
Ivan said that they would have to row out in a small rowing boat each day.
He said this wasn’t suitable for commercial fishing boats, particularly one the size of his.
Proposals for them to use the Marina at a fee of €16,800 per year for the three boats were dismissed.
‘That was ludicrous,’ said Ivan. ‘Between the three of us it’s €1,800 per year in Dun Laoghaire.’
During the Covid-19 crisis, while they were still working throughout to provide essential food, they didn’t push the Greystones harbour issue.
When building sites re-opened they tried to open communication once again with Sisk to no avail.
Feeling the agreement had been made for them to use the area, Tim Storey began to fish at Greystones. ‘
He said he wanted to pay for a week or two, and they wouldn’t take his money and sent him away.’
Two Saturdays ago, exactly a year from when he left the harbour to give the stakeholders time to sort it out, Ivan went back to landing at Greystones.
‘We landed no problem that day. On Monday we went out fishing and in the afternoon got a call saying the entrance to the pier was being blocked up. I thought, here we go again!’
The fishermen and their supporters took to social media to bring this to the attention of the public.
Since then. Brendan and Ivan met up and he was assured that they are permitted to fish from the harbour.
Currently, they are tying the boats up at the north pier, inside the harbour.
‘I said we have to stay here, unless they can come up with something better,’ said Ivan.
He said that the quality of life for he and his colleagues will be significantly better, with the commute to and from Dun Laoghaire now a thing of the past.
‘I spent 13 years driving the N11 at 5 in the morning and again at 6 in the evening’ said Ivan.
‘Most days you’d get into your boat and steam back to Bray Head to fish.’
He said that the situation caused plenty of stress.
‘You’d wake up at four in the morning, your head melting,’ said Ivan. ‘We all slept easier on Wednesday night, I hope it stays that way.’
Since last week’s talks, they have been able to use the facility, and have been told they can keep doing so.
Cllr Mags Crean congratulated the Save Greystones Fishing Fleet campaign, and the local community for supporting them to get to this point.
‘As a public representative actively engaged on this issue since my election, I will continue to keep the pressure on to ensure that this access is maintained and sustained on a long-term basis.’
She said that she will hold Wicklow County Council to account so that proper facilities and arrangements are in place to remain a permanent feature of the harbour.
At last week’s meeting of Greystones Municipal District, a day before the talks on Wednesday, district administrator Myra Porter said that while moorings were meant to be installed, they weren’t because of Covid-19.
‘They may not be at all this year as they’re seasonal,’ she said. She confirmed that the request to close the pier in the previous week had been made by gardai, not to block fishermen.
Cllr Mags Crean said that young people could very easily get across the wall.
‘Aside from that, I don’t think a public pier should be blocked,’ she said.
Cllr Tom Fortune welcomed the forthcoming meeting, and said that the way the fishermen had been treated was ‘abominable’.
He said that the fishing huts and landing facility were part of the original planning permission.
‘It’s a disgrace that Greystones is probably the only harbour in Ireland where fishermen couldn’t land, because when the planning was being put together it was wrongly left out. They were treated grossly unfairly.’