Union Hall fishermen's scrap plan may catch on

A SCRAP metal scheme implemented by fishermen in Union Hall has the potential to be replicated at harbours across the country, according to Cork South West TD Margaret Murphy O’Mahony.

Speaking at Union Hall pier last Friday, where two separate cheques were presented to Union Hall RNLI and Union Hall Tidy Towns, Deputy Murphy O’Mahony said she wanted to congratulate all those involved in what she called a ‘unique scheme’ which involves a skip being located on the pier for end of life equipment which can be sold or recycled.

‘It’s a complete win win situation as it suits the fishermen to get rid of their scrap metal and obviously charities are going to benefit from it and I think it’s something that could take off all around the country,’ she said. 

‘It’s a huge sum of money collected in the space of two or three months and fairly easily done too and no one had to dig into their pockets and well done to all involved in this.’

Monica Buckley of Fresh Fish Deli, said that the fishermen in Union Hall came together to carry out a clean-up of the fishing pier which was facilitated by the harbourmaster.

‘They identified a lot of scrap metal that could be recycled or could be sold on so we did a big recycling effort and raised €5,000 and the local fishermen decided to split the proceeds between the local RNLI Lifeboat Station and Union Hall Tidy Towns,’ said Monica.

‘This was carried out over the last two or three months and we are going to continue to do it. We now have a skip  based here in the pier  and we will continue to fill that with equipment that has reached its end of life. 

‘Any scrap metal collected then will go to a scrap metal company and they will buy the scrap from us.’

Monica added that they are going to give the proceeds of the sale of the scrap metal to Union Hall RNLI and Lost At Sea, a charity that supports families who have lost loved ones to fishing tragedies.