To The Harbour Born

Early protest SAT22JUNE19

t would appear that the Greystones fishermen’s long and winding court battles with BJ Marina and Wicklow County Council to once again be allowed to operate out of Greystones harbour are finally seeing some light…

And it’s good news for the fishermen too, with a judge’s ruling in this past week demanding that the cleats for docking be legally reinstated.

And that the fishermen’s boats be also legally allowed to offload their catch in the marina.

For now. There are more court cases to come.

Held at Dublin’s High Court, the judgement on March 28th of Ivan Toole And Golden Venture Fishing Limited vs BJ Marinas Limited, Sispar Limited and Wicklow County Council reads in part…

IT IS ORDERED that the Defendants their servants or agents or anyone acting on their behalf and/or by agreement the Plaintiffs do forthwith and within the next twenty-four hours reinstate two cleats removed from the North Wall Pier Greystones Harbour on the 14th day of March 2024 pending the hearing of said Motion for an interlocutory injunction.

AND IT IS ORDERED that the Defendants do forthwith permit the Plaintiffs’ vessels (the MFV Dignity and MFV Blue Fin) to berth at the said North Wall Pier and to land catch and load and unload fishing gear/equipment onto the said vessels pending the hearing of the said Motion for an interlocutory injunction.

AND IT IS ORDERED that the Plaintiffs must abide by any reasonable health and safety directions that the First Named Defendants may make.

AND IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the directions approved herein by Mr Justice Sanfey on the 19th day of March 2024 are varied to permit the Second Named Defendant to file any Replying Affidavit on the 8th April 2024.

It’s a small but significant victory, and the first time all four in the ongoing disputes have appeared in court together. Which is some kind of major progress after all these years.

So, here’s hoping common sense keeps on creeping into proceedings here, and that 16 years of nonsense might finally be coming to an end…