Delayed Kerry pier to cost €10m
The campaign for a pier at the mussel and oyster fishery in Cromane, Co Kerry, has been going on since the 1960s and is being revived, but the Government has no money to build it.
Cromane mussels are exported to France and Holland, where they feature on top restaurant menus, but local fishermen still have to use a tractor and trailer to land catches from boats.
The fishermen have begun lobbying politicians for the necessary money. However, the Dept of Agriculture and the Marine has told Kerry County Council the maximum funding available is just €150,000.
More than a decade ago, the cost of a pier was estimated at €6.5m. A deputation from Castlemaine Harbour Co-op yesterday made a strong case to a meeting of South and West Kerry Municipal Authority for a pier/landing facility in Cromane.
Spokesman Arthur McCarthy said the project seemed to have fallen by the wayside, but a pier was badly needed in the area.
“As well as catering for the established shell-fishing industry, there’s also huge potential for tourism and sea angling,” he said.
He recalled how the project almost came to fruition about 10 years ago and said the question of an access road to the site of a proposed pier needed to be revisited.
Senior executive engineer Eamon Scanlansaid there had been a joint project between the council and the department and there was a strong economic case for a pier.
The council was expected to come up with 25% of the cost, Mr Scanlan added.
When the council went about securing land for an access road, there were objections from some local landowners, but planning was obtained. There was no confirmation from the department, however, that it would fund the road.
Mr Scanlan said the council had been in contact with the department since then and the response was that the council could apply for funding. But, with just €150,000 available, there was absolutely no point in applying.
The department had a limited budget and harbours under its own auspices took quite a bit of its resources. “The money isn’t there for this project,” said Mr Scanlan. He said the cost could now be closer to €8m, not counting additional design fees to enable the project go to tender and compulsory purchase of land.
“There’s no indication from the department that it’s prepared to fund the project. It’s a great project, well worth supporting, but it’s not within our gift to do anything on it,” he said.
Mr Scanlan and other engineers are to meet the harbour co-op to discuss a revised pier plan and the feeling of the meeting was that they would also be prepared to meet Agriculture and Marine Minister Simon Coveney on such a plan.
Mr Stack also warned that any changes in design could mean a return to the planning and foreshore process.
Independent councillor Michael Cahill said the proposed site might or might not be ideal, but the fishermen might be prepared to consider a phased down plan if funding was the real issue.
Independent councillor Johnny Healy Rae said it was regrettable up to €1m had “gone dead” in the initial design and planning of the pier.
