Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Rainbow connection..

here was an emergency meeting Wednesday evening at Greystones Municipal District offices between local fishermen and all other concerned parties over the ongoing berthing issue at Greystones harbour.

And Cllr Mags Crean was kind enough to fill us in on what happened amidst what fisherman Ivan Toole referred to as “a lot of heated remarks”…

Today, three local fishermen working from Greystones harbour met with five local Councillors, two representatives from An Garda Síochána, two representatives from BJ Marines Ltd, two representatives from Sipsar Limited and one community member attending as an observer.

The meeting today was convened following last Friday’s standoff at Greystones Harbour and the need to discuss the ongoing situation of arrangements with regard to berthing access for the fishermen at Greystones Harbour.

There were also three representatives from Wicklow County Council present in the room in an observation capacity as they were advised legally that the executive of Wicklow County Council should not enter into any discussions and/or negotiations with the fishermen with regard to Greystones Harbour as the matter is considered subjudice.

All present were given an opportunity to speak and a number of issues were discussed. Naturally, there was talk about the wider context and history that has led to the current situation but a number of emerging issues were also discussed relating to the use of the North Pier wall by the fishermen over the last year.

A key issue that arose was the fact that the current 2014 Harbour bye-laws do not allow for the harbour to operate as a commercial port. A key action needed here is to review and see what can be done to ensure that leisure and commercial fishing activities, as well as artisan fishing activities, can all take place at the harbour.

Safety of the public was also raised, with some participants voicing concerns that the current arrangement at the North Pier put people at risk, but this was challenged by other participants who claimed that most harbours have commercial fishing activity without risk to the public and insurance is not an issue. Questions were also asked as to what parts of the harbour are public and what are private.

In addition, a number of options were suggested for alternative arrangements to the North Pier but most of these suggestions had been explored in detail in previous years and were not viable.

In conclusion, it was agreed that SISPAR would liaise with one of the fishermen and revisit some of the proposed alternative options from an engineering perspective, providing a progress report on this within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, there was a suggestion that the fishermen could continue to use the current arrangements on the North Pier but within a specified timeframe.

Lifelong fisherman Ivan Toole charts a way forward here, and you can check out last week’s standoff here.