A group of 30 Cobh fishermen, ordered by the High Court to lift a boat blockade on dredging near the site of the Lee Tunnel in Cork Harbour, say they will defy the ban.
A group spokesman said after the court hearing yesterday that if dredging operations resumed, they would wreck their livelihoods. "We are prepared to go to prison to protect our livelihoods. If we are in prison at least we and our families will be looked after by the State."
Mr Justice Kelly heard that the fishermen had mounted a blockade with fishing vessels after a floating dredger threatened to dredge one of their most productive fishing grounds, known as The Spit.
The builders of the Lee Tunnel have a licence from the Department of the Marine to dredge three areas of Cork Harbour for in-fill sand and gravel. Yesterday the contractors were granted an injunction restraining the fishermen from blockading the dredging and banning their boats from coming within 200ft of the dredger, The Big Boss.
Mr Eoin McCullough, counsel for Tarmac Construction Ltd, PJ Walls (Civil) Ltd and Dredging International (UK) Ltd, told the court that if the blockade was not restrained, his clients stood to suffer huge losses in the £67 million Lee Tunnel contract.
Mr Declan Buckley, counsel for the fishermen, said 30 families depended on the proceeds of fishing on The Spit. His clients had experience in other areas where the sea bed had never recovered from dredging.
Mr Justice Kelly said the tunnel builders had been granted a licence by the Minister to extract up to 800,000 cubic metres of sand and gravel from three areas of the foreshore of Cork Harbour from April 1st to December 31st this year. The builders now wished to begin excavation work on Section One, the area known as The Spit.
He said the fishermen and their families depended on fishing for a living and had told him The Spit was the most lucrative fishing area in the harbour. They had been led to believe that the construction of the tunnel would have a minimal impact on their lives and had taken support from an environmental impact study which had made it clear that dredging would take place on The Spit only if sufficient material was not found in Section One.
He said the fishermen claimed representations had been made to them that extraction of back-fill would begin on Section One, followed by Section Three, and only move to The Spit if it was necessary.
Mr Justice Kelly said part of the tunnel works involving The Spit started on July 21st, when The Big Boss had been brought in to carry out dredging. On that date, seven fishing vessels prevented The Big Boss from moving from its location by blockading it and preventing it from working. Work on The Spit had stopped in the hope that some resolution might be reached but this had not proved possible.
Mr Justice Kelly said the builders held a licence to carry out the work and it did not specify that it had to be done in any particular order. The fishermen were saying the licence granted by the Minister had been granted on the basis of either a misunderstanding or misrepresentation and, had the true position been known to the Minister, no licence of the type issued would have been granted.
No proceedings had been instituted by the fishermen seeking to set aside the licence. They had a legitimate complaint about the way correspondence had been dealt with by the Department. Much of it had been ignored without even the courtesy of an acknowledgment.
"In my view, the existence of the licence, which I must accept prima facie, entitles the contractors to engage in the work they seek to carry out and I must presume it is being done with the concurrence and consent of the Minister."
He was satisfied there was a serious issue to be tried at a main hearing and that the fishermen could never raise adequate damages to compensate the contractors should the case go against them.
He had been told The Spit fishing ground would rejuvenate within a limited time, although he accepted the fishermen held grave misgivings. He also had to bear in mind that the fishermen had the benefit of the contractors' undertaking as to damages.
Mr Justice Kelly said his order did not prejudice the fishermen from issuing any proceedings they might feel appropriate concerning the validity of the licence.