THE owners of Carlingford Marina have spent over €11,000 of their own money erecting a fence in a bid to prevent any tragic accidents from occurring in the popular spot.
Carlingford Marina General Manager Johnny Moneley told the Dundalk Leader that the total cost of erecting the fence including VAT stands at €11,603.
“Louth County Council promised to build a fence here in 2012 so we have been waiting ten years for this,” said Johnny.
“We put in a footpath in 1986 and the council did recognise from the very beginning of the Greenway project that a fence needed to be put in too.
“However, the feedback I got is that the project is running out of money and that it will have to be done in phase two.”
Johnny added: “With that uncertainty, we couldn’t wait around. Between 2012 and to date there have been a couple of incidents.
“I wrote to the council in 2017 after one of the incidents where a man fell off the side and into a hedge.
“In that letter I outlined a worst-case scenario that a child could fall 20 feet onto the beach below.”
Johnny continued: “This year, a six-year-old girl fell a number of feet and thankfully she was alright.
“I had a meeting with the mother of the child and decided we couldn’t live with ourselves if the worst happened. We decided to build a fence.
“The indications I’m getting from the council is this might be a temporary job. At some point the council might re-build it to their spec.”
He concluded: “When you head off down the Greenway towards Omeath there are fences in place to protect the sheep, why not build a fence to protect children and adults?”
When contacted by the Dundalk Leader, Louth County Council stated that they are currently in communication with Carlingford Marina regarding the fence.
“The council’s engineer has met the owner of the Carlingford Marina at the location and are in communication regarding the provision of a fence. ”
