Frustration as pontoon on Achill is still not in place

A pontoon that was expected to be put to sea at Dugort in Achill and create a connection for seafarers to the Mullet Peninsula is still not in place and a local councillor is very unhappy about it. 

Cllr Paul McNamara told the Head of Marine with Mayo County Council, Michael O’Boyle, that he considered it was his fault that the pontoon was still not in place. 

At the June meeting of Westport Belmullet Municipal District, Mr O’Boyle acknowledged the councillor’s frustration, telling him there are strategic and operational requirements to meet. He said the council has put a lot of work into the project to date and is aware there is a demand from local people for it. He accepted that he took some blame for the pontoon still not being launched, saying: “I am conservative about it because it is in a very exposed area and we don’t want to get it wrecked beyond being operational. It was damaged last year and this year we widened the pier and cleared out some rocks. There are still some stones and debris that have to be removed but we can assure you we hope to have the pontoon in and working in the next two weeks and then hope next year to have a scheme to help us manage it quicker, because it is very hard to get access to the pier at the moment.” 

Mr O'Boyle added: “We have three projects that must be completed by September this year, two of which are in this municipal district. We are doing further work at Purteen Harbour in relation to stabilising the wave walls which were ready to collapse. The second project is at Rosmoney where we are also stabilising the wall and the pontoon there, and this is a big investment; and the third project is the pontoon in Ballina, to facilitate access for the Dragon Boat Club. These three projects are all ongoing.” 

The marine chief said it was also hoped to have a contractor on site shortly in relation to the heritage project ongoing at Belmullet Pier, adding that the plan was to have an annual project of doing up a heritage pier each year. He said: “Belmullet is a very good example of such a pier and by doing it we will learn a lot.”

• Published as part of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.