Haughey yacht in need of funding

THE Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) said yesterday it is confident the state and EU-backed Leader programme will provide the necessary funding for the retrofit of Charles J Haughey’s former yacht, Celtic Mist.

This year, the Haughey family donated the 52ft Celtic Mist to the IWDG and Dr Simon Berrow of the IWDG said yesterday that it will cost between €25,000 and €50,000 to overhaul the boat.

The group has tendered for the work and IWDG has to provide 25% of the funding from its own resources towards the overhaul of the boat.

Dr Berrow said he is confident that Leader will provide the remaining 75%, saying the group is aiming to have the boat back on the water by March.

The current Leader programme in Co Clare has a budget of €15 million to allocate until 2015, with multiple grants already made.

Dr Berrow said: “I’m delighted and overwhelmed by the reaction in west Clare to the boat. It can be a great asset to Kilrush and west Clare. Lots of people are coming up with lots of ideas about how the boat can be used.”

He added: “We want to be as inclusive as possible. We had one local man — also a Fianna Fáil supporter — who had never been out on a boat in 80 years and he saw the west Clare coastline from the sea for the first time.”

The whale expert said that to meet the running costs, the IWDG is seeking corporate sponsorship of €25,000 per annum.