With Cod On Their Side

The battle between local fishermen and Greystones harbour master continued unabated this morning when the former arrived to another blockade by the latter.

The call for help in forcibly removing one of these blocks this evening at 6.30pm has just been posted by the fishermen on social media.

Naturally, social media is on the fishermen’s side, this David & Goliath story having all the classic ingredients of big business stomping all over old traditions.

In truth, the situation is far more complicated than that. Both sides in this argument have recently resorted to breaking the law as one retaliation leads to another, and both sides feel, of course, that they’re most definitely in the right. The harbour master is dealing with fishing boats illegally landing catches in the marina that he’s tasked with managing, whilst the fishermen want the landing dock that was promised to them all those years ago, when plans were being finalised for just what Greystones’ new marina would be.

The key moment occurred late in that planning, when, mysteriously, that promised landing dock for the fishermen – which had been planned for the south pier, where the boat repair yard is now – vanished from the plans. Was this a deliberate act of sabotage, or was it just stupidity? 

By all accounts, these meetings had been dragging on, and by the time the 11th hour approached, most, if not all, of Greystones’ fishermen had stopped attending. Which left public representatives such as Derek Mitchell, Tom Fortune and Ciaran Hayden to look out for their interests.

None of them, it would appear, spotted the change in the plans. And then it was too late.

That Ivan Toole was the only registered fisherman in Greystones’ largely abandoned harbour at that crucial point may also explain why the sudden disappearance of the landing dock for fish managed to slip by without even a whimper from those involved. 

And now, ten years later, it’s swordfishes at dawn, as the matter would appear to be coming to a head. Ivan and his fellow fishermen landing their catches illegally, in protest, and Bernard Gallagher, the harbour master, battling to keep the marina legal. That there are anger issues on both sides doesn’t help matters either.

Over the years, letters sent by Wicklow County Council to the fishermen to try and solve the issue have, we’ve been told, all gone unanswered. When Sisk installed mooring chains for one 20-ton and two 10-ton fishing boats, they were rejected by the fishermen as either too expensive to maintain or not fit for purpose, depending on who you talk to. That Ivan is currently engaged in a compensation case against WCC over loss of earnings, etc, may have something to do with the lack of negotiation in recent years, but, there’s no doubting that this situation has to be resolved sooner rather than later.

Fishing in Greystones’ harbour represents, for many locals, a link to the past, a beacon of the town’s history and their childhood. Then again, there are also regular calls to reopen The Ormonde, when the chances of Greystonians actually going regularly to their local cinema are very, very close to feck all, given that we’ve become a town of couch roosters.

With a series of meetings planned between the fishermen and WCC, the simple solution to all this nonsense would be to allow fishermen to dock at that south pier repair yard, and unload their catches there. As promised. It would make a welcome addition to the highly practical but largely colourless harbour, and, just as importantly, it would provide that missing link to the town’s past.

That way, hopefully, we can all stop bitching and moaning, my friend, and get on with the future.