Schull pontoon will cost €100k to install

A MOTION calling on the County Council to install a pontoon in Schull Harbour before the summer season was tabled by Cllr Danny Collins (Ind). 

Speaking at a recent of the West Cork Municipal District, the councillor said: ‘It is vital that this pontoon be installed this summer because it would provide the Schull Community Harbour Development Company with a springboard for further investment.’

He said the company has a long-term plan to develop a 225-berth marina and that the pontoon would give people an idea of what could be possible in the future.

Area engineer Sarah Sinnott informed the councillors that the Council applied for, and was granted, €100,000 for the pontoon.

She said the pontoon has been made in County Offaly and will be delivered shortly. However, she said, funds – in the sum of another €100,000 – would be needed to install it.

‘We are ready to go when the funding comes. We don’t have the resources ourselves,’ she added.

Cllr Mary Hegarty (FG) paid tribute to the Council for initiating the project, as well as the other infrastructural work in Schull – such as the new toilets, the pedestrian crossing, the investment in the playground, and the expansion of the village’s parking facilities.

Cllr Hegarty suggested: ‘It is time to go to our Oireachtas members and see what they can do about funding the final stage of this project, because we need help to get this across the line.’

Cllr Paul Hayes (SF) and Cllr Joe Carroll (FF), who are members of the Council’s Coastal Management Committee, said they would also raise the issue at their next meeting.