Kenny: Govt committed to Narrow Water bridge

Enda Kenny has said the Government remains fully committed to building a bridge at Narrow Water linking counties Down and Louth.

The Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB) had pledged €17.4m towards the project but has withdrawn its offer because additional funding has not been found.

The Taoiseach insisted planning for the cross-border bridge at the site of one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles should go ahead if it made financial sense.

“This government remains fully committed to the Narrow Water bridge,” he said.

He added: “There has to be economic justification for these decisions. We had full support for this but the tender process was very much out of line with the eventual estimates.”

The cable-stayed bridge, 195 metres long, had been in the planning process for at least five years and would have connected Cornamucklagh near Omeath, Co Louth, with Narrow Water near Warrenpoint, Co Down, at an historic crossing point.

The entire build would have been 620 metres long and it had been hoped it could be open by this year.

Backers of the scheme claimed it was crucial to the prospects for economic regeneration and reconciliation of the border community in Louth and Down.

Stormont’s Finance department was the last body to commit to fund the scheme, with £2.7m (€3.6m) allocated to the bridge.

Former Stormont Finance Minister Sammy Wilson gave approval for the project with a number of financial conditions and undertakings from both Louth and Newry and Mourne councils.

Council bosses in Co Louth pulled out after bids for the job from construction firms came in substantially above budget.

Narrow Water was the spot were a convoy of British paratroopers were blown up by a remote control roadside bomb in 1979. It was the Army’s greatest loss of life in one day in Northern Ireland with 18 soldiers killed.