Trespassers Will Be Ignored

hen the North Pier was closed yet again in July, no jaws hit any floors.

We’d been here quite a few times before, and sure, this was just another marina day in paralysis.

The great divide in Greystones between the haves and the have-yachts has been bubbling and regularly boiling over since 2008, when developers Sisk somehow managed to secure a 30-year contract with Wicklow County Council that saw the town’s harbour become the construction giant’s very own Vatican City.

That the harbour went electric was enough for some Greystonians to start banging the drum – even if it is used today by far more people in the town than ever before. The bad feelings towards this multi-million-euro development of spanking new houses nestled in our supersized new harbour haven’t been helped, of course, by the never-ending saga of Greystones fishermen desperately trying to secure their promised landing berth.

A battle still limping on after over a decade of angry stand-offs and intensely vague meetings.

So, having kids diving off the North Pier is pretty small fry in comparison. Unless you’re the harbour master, of course, trying to ensure that those paying a hearty price to park their floating mansions in Greystones’ shiny new marina don’t decide to go elsewhere after one too many daredevil kid dives directly in their path. Or cheekily climbs aboard when the owner’s wetting his whistle on dry land.

In Flow by Anne McInerny/365seaswimforme

Talking to the local gardaí and other officials who would rather remain anonymous, it would appear that most kids taking a dip in the water down on the North Pier are fine, upstanding young leaders of tomorrow. The general consensus being that it’s merely a small group of rebels without much to actually rebel against who are deliberately pushing the boundaries in the hope of provoking an angry response.

Cove Jump! Pic: Joe Ellis Photography

And is it any wonder when they do get an angry response? Have some little smartarse climb up on top of your car repeatedly, and imagine how calm and collect you’d feel.

Speaking to one of the powers-that-be down at the marina, they admitted to us that, off-the-record, they were okay with kids diving off the South Pier, where there was no heavy boat traffic coming in and out of the harbour, and where there were no yachts for these kids to commandeer.

But hey, for some kids, diving down at the harbour without causing offence or upset – where’s the fun in that…?

The spark for this post was the fact that we have spent the last three weeks trying to get clarity from the harbour master, Sisk or Wicklow County Council as to what restrictions were actually in place on the North Pier. Given that locals had merely moved the barriers to gain access, and that kids were down there most days, merrily diving once again.

We didn’t get a response from the harbour master. And we didn’t, as usual, get any response from Sisk.

A representative from the Council did inform us that they had been ‘advised that whilst it is intended for the fence to remain on health and safety grounds, persons unknown have been removing same and leaving the area open‘. 

So, we’re none the wiser. And nowhere near, it seems, a solution to this particular harbour problem.

Even just for insurance purposes, those maintaining the harbour can hardly give the thumbs up to kids jumping 20 feet into the sea, especially with such a constant flow of traffic in and out of the marina. And yet, were it not for just a handful of dynamic and daring young arsewipes, it’s possible that they would have turned a blind eye to those kids who know how not to mess up a good thing…

As with the other issues down at the harbour, this ain’t over. For another 17 years, at least.