This article is from page 17 of the 2010-02-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
THE Government has been accused of “blackguarding” the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard by misleading them as well as elected officials about the ring-fencing of funding for a new coastguard facility in north Clare. This follows the revelation that more than €1.5 million promised by government for the development of the rescue centre is not ring-fenced, and the Irish Coastguard will have to make a case for the money to the Department of the Marine.
Speaking at last nights meeting of Clare County Council, Cllr James Breen (IND), accused successive ministers of deceiving both himself and the Doolin Coastguard.
“The minister has blackguarded the people up in Doolin for the last few years and he has no intention of putting forward this development,” he said.
““T raised this matter on a number of occasions when I was in the Dail and I was always happy with the answer I got back. But what has been done’ He has done absolutely nothing.
“It is not good enough for the vol- unteers up there to be operating out of a building which is essentially a cow shed. I am calling on the min- ister to honour what has been prom- ised and make sure that this facility goes ahead soon.”
A deputation from the Office of Public Works (OPW) met with mem- bers of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard in January to show them a number of proposals for the new facility.
It had been expecting that planning for the facility would be lodged to-
wards the end of last month but no application has yet been submitted to Clare County Council.
Speaking on a motion calling on the Government to clarify its position on funding for the project, Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said that the members of the Doolin Coastguard were not being treated fairly.
“These people are risking their lives to go out there and bring in 30 or 40 bodies a year and they deserve more than what they are getting at the moment,” he said.
For the last number of years, volun-
teers for the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard have been working out of a 150-year-old shed for a number of decades and are forced to store much of their equipment off-site. This could potentially cause delays in emergency situations.
The proposed new centre has been delayed for years as the OPW had difficulty in obtaining a site locally. A source close to the coastguard ad- mitted that it would be “very unlike- ly” that the coastguard could raise enough money to proceed with the project by themselves.