No money to give for new pontoons
NEW PONTOONS FOR MULLAGHMORE AND SLIGO NOT A PRIORITY
THE Department of the Marine is not prioritising the funding of pontoons.
Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Seamus Kilgannon said he was “disappointed that funding is not being made available for pontoons in both Mullaghmore and Sligo town.”
He was told the news after asking for an update on the matter at the Sligo Municipal Meeting last week.
Senior Executive Engineer with the Council Gary Salter told members that the Council had applied to the Department since 2015 for ¤27,000 to design and plan a pontoon extension at Sligo Port at Timber Jetty, downstream of Hughes Bridge.
The Department refused them and “does not appear to be funding studies nor preliminary aspects of projects at all at present.”
As for Mullaghmore pontoon, Mr Salter said the Council had also sought funding to study the tidal harbour and siltation problem but again, received no funding.
“Sligo is doing a lot of good work - it’s clear the pontoon needs to be extended for health and safety reasons,” said Cllr Kilgannon.
Director of Services Tom Kilfeather said that after all the recent winter storms, the Council would be carrying out an assessment of all coastal areas.
“We will be making an application for funding to the Department of the Marine for the cost of the damage done by the storms,” he told members.
He warned against carrying out repairs in the immediate term as the Government would not pay for them retrospectively.
“If we carry out funding now, we can’t go looking for funding afterwards,” he said. He advised waiting until after Mr Salter had reviewed the situation to see if the repairs were urgently needed or if they could wait to get funding from the Department.
Separately, Councillor Declan Bree asked if the Council had plans to further protect the dunes in Strandhill.
He was told that the Council did not have any immediate proposals regarding the dunes there.
Director of Services Tom Kilfeather told Cllr Bree that considerable extra fencing was erected over the past 18 months to restrict access to the ‘Big Dune’ route to the Shelly Valley and to trap sand in the dunes there but the public were still walking there.
Cllr Bree said the biggest difficulty was people ignoring signs and continuing to walk on the dunes and Marram grass.