Glengarriff Harbour to be hit with dredging works at height of tourist season
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Dredging works to scenic Glengarriff Harbour in West Cork will have to be carried out during the peak of the tourist season due to a combination of wildlife and funding rules, Cork County Council has confirmed.
The €250,000 contact for the long-awaited dredging works in Glengarriff was awarded in October as part of a wider €1m package under the Brexit Adjustment Local Authority Marine Infrastructure Scheme (Balami) 2022-2023.
That will also see dredging works carried out at Courtmacsherry and Reen Pier in West Cork. Under the Balami scheme rules, the funds must be drawn down and used within a year of approval.
However, work will not be able to begin in Glengarriff until June to avoid impacting the local seal population’s pupping season.
County Mayor Danny Collins said he wants to know what the impact will be for boat operators who go out to Garnish Island and around the bay area.
“I would be afraid that this work would affect their boat schedules and so I would hope the council will work with the users of the pier,” he said,
Harbour Queen Ferries operates three boats from Glengarriff Pier serving Garnish Island, a major tourist attraction during the summer period and charter operator Bantry Bay Charters also use the pier as a base during the summer as do a small number of local inshore fishing vessels.
County engineer Kevin Morey said that Cork County Council is constrained in terms of the period they are allowed to carry out the works: “It means that we will be carrying out works at a time that will be intrusive but if we are going to get the work done we need to do it.
“They are necessary works that are long awaited, but what we can commit to is meeting with all concerned early in 2023 and trying to work out a plan as to how we can minimise the effect and what kind of alternatives might be available to people.”
Gillian Vaughan, senior coastal engineer at Cork County Council said it had to accept specific conditions related to the license to get the funding.
"As a part of the conditions work cannot be completed in March, April or May. So the work can only commence in June but we need to have the works completed in October to have the invoices in to get the money spent so that we can actually draw down the money for Balami.”